When we think of hostage situations, most people think of fast and furious negotiations.
We’ve all seen the news footage of bank robberies gone wrong, with heroic police negotiators
making a deal with the captors while the hostages cower on the ground.
If you’re a fan of military dramas, you’ve probably seen a few heroic operations as Navy
SEALS drop in to liberate Americans held abroad.
But for many people kidnapped for ransom abroad, the reality of being a hostage is much slower
and uncertain.
For journalists Nigel Brennan and Amanda Lindhout, a journey into Somali territory turned into
a fifteen-month ordeal at the hands of modern-day pirates.
The Somali coast is considered one of the most dangerous places on the planet, due to
the loose government structure in the country and its struggling economy.
The mostly agrarian economy has left the country one of Africa’s poorest, and many young
citizens have little choice but to turn to crime to survive.
The waters off Somalia’s eastern coast are a common shipping route for smaller vessels,
and that makes the route a haven for pirates seeking to capture cargo - or hostages.
The most famous Somali pirate attack was the seizing of the merchant ship of Captain Richard
Phillips, dramatized in the film Captain Phillips.
But most operations by pirates are on a smaller scale, and that makes covering the area highly
dangerous for journalists.
In 2008, Nigel Brennan was a 36-year-old photojournalist from Australia covering conflict zones around
the world.
He traveled to Mogadishu with Canadian freelance journalist Amanda Lindhout to interview people
at the country’s IDP, or internally displaced person camps.
Only three days after arrival, their car was stopped by gunmen and they were captured.
Other, more famous journalists in the area had beefed up their security due to increased
pirate activity, so the pirates from the Hizbul Islam paramilitary group turned their sights
to the new visitors.
Brennan and Lindhout were about to become two of the world’s most famous journalists,
but for the last reason they would want.
Brennan and Lindhout were taken along with their Somali translator Adbifatah Mohammed
Elmi, their driver, and a driver from a nearby hotel and blindfolded.
Their teenage captors began driving them around the city to various locations, keeping them
from getting their bearings.
There was no initial announcement of their capture, and their friends, family, and employers
back home were left to slowly realize that their trip to Somalia had gone very wrong.
The captives were eventually taken to a run-down house where they were separated and kept in
small rooms, mostly in the dark.
The Australian government contacted Somali authorities and a manhunt began, but came
up empty.
At first a spokesman for the pirates denied any involvement with the kidnapping, claiming
a fringe sect was behind it.
Reporters Without Borders was able to get confirmation that the reporters were alive
and unharmed, but the kidnappers had not made any demands.
It wasn’t until over two weeks after the kidnapping that the pirates were heard from,
speaking through a third-party liaison.
They demanded three million Australian dollars for the captives’ release, and allowed Brennan
and Lindhout to speak briefly.
Brennan was forced to issue a statement claiming “We are very well now mentally and physically”.
While Elmi and the two drivers were released several months into their captivity after
negotiation with tribal chiefs, the families of Brennan and Lindhout had little hope of
raising the money on their own.
The Australian and Canadian government have a policy of not paying ransoms or negotiating
with kidnappers, so the two captives were on their own as the months of isolation wore
on.
Brennan was kept separately from Lindhout and both were treated roughly by their captors.
Beatings were frequent, food was scarce, and Brennan knew that death could come at any
time if the pirates believed no money was coming.
They converted to Islam hoping to ingratiate themselves to their captors, but the kidnappers
were only interested in them for the potential payoff.
Losing faith that he would be released or that his country would be coming to his aid,
Brennan began to hatch a plan to escape.
He was able to briefly communicate with Lindhout when their captors weren’t watching, by
leaving tiny notes in the small bathroom they were allowed access to.
When he developed dysentery, Nigel knew his time was running out.
Living in the squalid conditions was wearing his body down, and escaping would become harder
as he grew weaker.
The pirates took Amanda to the desert and let her call her mother.
What seemed like a kindness turned out to be anything but, as they reduced the ransom
to a million dollars but added a new condition - if it wasn’t paid in a week, she would
be killed.
They both knew the time to escape was now.
Nigel had been examining the bricks in his room and the bars on the wall for weeks, and
knew every inch of the place.
The weak point was in the bathroom, in the slightly loose bars of the window.
Nigel and Amanda waited for an opportunity, snuck off to the bathroom at the same time
when their captors weren’t watching, and worked together to loosen the bars until they
were far enough apart.
They carefully squeezed out the window, helped by the weight they had lost in their long
captivity, and snuck out.
It was a twelve foot drop to the ground, but they landed safely.
Freedom was within sight.
Out of captivity for the first time in months, Nigel and Amanda ran.
They spoke some basic Somali, enough to shout “Help me, I am Muslim!”.
They asked people on the street for help, but everyone turned away.
The people in the streets of Mogadishu knew to fear the kidnappers and refused to intervene.
Brennan knew the one place they might find help was in a local Mosque, where they would
be seen as fellow muslims and find sanctuary.
Their escape had been discovered, and their captors were hot on their trail wielding an
AK-47.
Nigel burst through the doors, yelling for safety, and the congregation of worshippers
froze in fear.
The one woman present embraced Amanda, and a worshipper handed Nigel a gun.
Nigel stood, frozen in terror as their captors burst through the door.
The pirates demanded their captives back.
Nigel stood, trying to bring himself to fire, but he was a journalist and not a soldier.
He couldn’t kill anyone and surrendered his gun.
The pirates threatened the mosque unless they were allowed to leave with their hostages,
but some of the worshippers wanted to defend them.
The mosque is a sacred place, and although they were scared, they were ready to defend
their Muslim guests.
They said an Imam should be called to determine Nigel and Amanda’s fate.
The pirates were not willing to wait, and roughly fended the worshippers off with threats
of firing.
They grabbed Nigel and Amanda and dragged them back to captivity.
Nigel and Amanda’s Somali nightmare was about to get much worse.
Nigel and Amanda were brutally beaten in public by their captors, as an example to anyone
who would help them escape again.
Blindfolded again, they were taken to a new safe house, chained in separate rooms, and
kept in total darkness.
Their new rooms were like coffins, only three feet by seven.
Nigel was forced to compete with large and aggressive rats for the little food they were
given.
Their captors went silent - Nigel and Amanda were no longer allowed to make calls to encourage
their families to pay the ransom.
Nigel began to sink into despair, sure that death was around the corner.
But behind the scenes, their families were working to find them.
Nigel and Amanda’s families had been stonewalled by the government, who had come up empty in
their search.
Neither government was willing to pay the ransom, so the families hired private security
firms who specialized in hostage negotiations.
Although the families didn’t get along and both blamed the other for their loved one
getting kidnapped, they put their differences aside for a mutual goal.
Nigel’s sister, desperate to attain her brother’s release, flew to Somalia to transfer
money to a third party who knew the kidnappers.
This was illegal and risked arrest, as well as putting her at risk of kidnapping herself.
The families, with the help of rich private backers in both Australia and Canada, were
able to raise over $500,000 for the release of the captives.
The kidnappers, sensing a payoff could be close, loosened security on the captives and
allowed them to make phone calls.
This opened Nigel to another danger - being betrayed by his fellow captive.
As their possible release got closer, both got paranoid, and a desperate Amanda used
her phone call to beg her mother to use the money to get her release even if Nigel would
be left behind.
Because the bank account is held in Nigel’s native Australia, this attempt failed and
the release of the two hostages remained a package deal.
With hope of the full ransom being raised dwindling, the pirates decide to take what
they could get.
After almost 460 days as hostages, Nigel and Amanda’s release was close at hand.
On November 25th, 2009, Amanda and Nigel are dragged out of their cells and taken into
a van.
They’re driven to the side of the road where they’re handed off to a third party.
But they’re not taken to another safe house.
Instead they’re driven to Somalia’s most secure hotel where they go from the depths
of squalor to the lap of luxury.
They barely have time to process what’s happening before they’re taken to their
plane the next morning and flown out of Somalia to Kenya, where they would be reunited with
their families.
Their hostage ordeal is over, but both will be recovering from their captivity for a long
time.
The secret behind the ransom wouldn’t be revealed for some time.
Both Nigel and Amanda’s families were cash-poor and had no hope of raising the exorbitant
payment, but powerful private citizens in both countries worked together to bring their
citizens home.
Australian parliamentary leader Bob Brown and businessman Dick Smith, both active in
Australian charity work, kicked in for Nigel’s ransom.
Calgary businessman Allan Markin was key in attaining Amanda’s release.
Although Nigel and Amanda were partners in captivity and in their daring escape attempt,
the time as hostages had taken its toll on them and wore down their trust in each other.
After being released, they went their separate ways and have not spoken since their ordeal.
Nigel returned to Australia, where he recovered from his fifteen months in captivity and parlayed
his ordeal into a new career as an author.
He co-wrote a memoir, “The Price of Life: A True Story of Kidnap and Ransom”, with
his sister Nicky and sister-in-law Kellie, who were instrumental in campaigning for his
release.
His story was adapted into an episode of the TV series “Locked Up Abroad”, where he
was portrayed by Tom Oakley.
Nigel stayed close to home for several years, but made his triumphant return to the water
when he participated in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race in 2013.
He spoke about the toll his ordeal had on him, and how traveling the world again was
a big step in his recovery.
While Nigel and Amanda were free, with Amanda going on to an acclaimed career as a motivational
speaker, the masterminds behind their ordeal were still on the loose and the governments
wanted to make sure this wasn’t repeated.
Canadian police staged an elaborate undercover operation to lure one of the captors out of
hiding.
Al Omar Ader, one of the kidnappers and hostage negotiators, took the bait and visited Canada
for what he thought was an opportunity but was actually a sting.
He faced Canadian justice and was sentenced to fifteen years in prison for the kidnapping
of Nigel and Amanda.
The other kidnappers remain at large in Somalia, and authorities have no leads.
Nigel Brennan and Amanda Lindhout survived an ordeal that would break many people.
The average length of a kidnapping by Somali pirates is less than ninety days.
They survived five times that, including beatings, starvation, disease, and a failed escape attempt
that nearly led to their murder.
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