International Relationships and the World News

8/11/2019 International Relationships and the World News

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Writer Held by Al Qaeda Affiliate in Syria Is Freed After Nearly 2 Years

Peter Theo Curtis, Abducted in 2012, Is Released by Nusra Front

By RUKMINI CALLIMACHIAUG. 24, 2014

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Peter Theo Curtis

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Held for nearly two years in a prison run by an affiliate of Al Qaeda in Syria,an American freelance writer was unexpectedly freed on Sunday, following extensive mediation by Qatar, the tiny Gulf emirate and United States ally that has successfully negotiated the release of numerous Western hostages in exchange for multimillion-dollar ransoms.

Relatives of the freed hostage, Peter Theo Curtis, 45, said that while they werenot privy to the exact terms, they were told that no ransom had been paid. Yet

his surprise liberation by the Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front, came less thana week after the decapitation of another American journalist, James Foley, heldby a different and even more radical jihadist group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.


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Text of Curtis Family Statement on News of His ReleaseAUG. 24, 2014

They were so nonchalant. They didnt point a gun at me, and moved me very gently.Matthew Schrier described his abduction in Aleppo on Dec. 31 by fighters with theNusra Front, which is aligned with Al Qaeda.

American Tells of Odyssey as Prisoner of Syrian RebelsAUG. 22, 2013

A photograph of James Foley at work was viewed by those who attended a Mass in his honor in Rochester, N.H., on Sunday.

Britain Said to Be Closeto Identifying ISIS Suspect in Journalists BeheadingAUG. 24, 2014

James Foley, in a photo from the website FreeJamesFoley.org, in Aleppo, Syria, in November 2012, the month he disappeared.

New Hampshire Town Honors James FoleyAUG. 24, 2014

Great Britain Appeals to Anti-Extremist Imams in Effort to Uproot Seeds of RadicalizationAUG. 24, 2014

Mr. Curtiss release was likely to raise further questions about what, if any, con

cessions should be made to militant groups holding Western nationals. The beheading of Mr. Foley, which shocked and enraged much of the world, also may have spurred Qatar to press more intensively for Mr. Curtiss release.

Continue reading the main story Video

Play Video|0:21

American Journalist Released


Peter Theo Curtis, 45, an American freelance journalist held captive for nearlytwo years by Al Qaedas branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, was freed on Sunday.Video Credit By Nusra Front on Publish Date August 24, 2014.

Mr. Foleys death, apparently at the hands of a masked ISIS guard believed to be British, which was filmed and uploaded on YouTube, came after European nations and organizations had negotiated the liberation of more than a dozen of their citizens held in the same cell as Mr. Foley for ransoms averaging more than $2.5 mil


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lion, according to former hostages, their families, negotiators and officials involved in their releases.

News of Mr. Curtiss release came as British officials said they were close to identifying Mr. Foleys suspected killer, based on voice-recognition technology, eavesdropped phone recordings and other intelligence tools. If the suspect is identified, it could give officials insight into the ISIS captors, who are holding another American journalist, Steven J. Sotloff, and two other Americans.

Relatives of Mr. Curtis said in an interview that after numerous failed starts and after having received ransom demands ranging from $3 million to $25 million,the panicked family was introduced by Samantha Power, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, to her Qatari counterpart after learning that Qatar had successfully won the release of Europeans kidnapped by Al Qaedas branch in Yemen. As soon as Qatar became involved, the relatives said, they felt as if an avenue of communication had been opened. For the first time, they were able to senda proof-of-life question which only Mr. Curtis could have answered: What was thesubject of your Ph.D. dissertation? (Answer: a museum started by the mother ofthe novelist Anthony Trollope.)

Our family wants to thank the country of Qatar in a big way,said Amy Rosen, a cousin. Every person that our family dealt with in Qatar said that under no circumst

ances would a ransom be paid and that this was something the U.S. government hadrequested, and they had agreed to,she said. But at the same time, we dont pretendto know everything that happened.


The United Nations said in a statement that Mr. Curtis had been handed over to United Nations peacekeepers in Al Rafid village, in the disputed Golan Heights region straddling Syria and Israel, at 6:40 p.m. local time. The family was told that an American doctor met him, and after a check-up had confirmed that he was healthy. He will be debriefed by the F.B.I. before he returns home.

Ms. Rosen and Viva Hardigg, another cousin, said they began hearing late Saturda

y night that Qatars efforts had succeeded, and that Mr. Curtis was soon going tobe delivered to an appointed spot in the Golan Heights.

Neither Ms. Rosen, in her bedroom in New Jersey, nor Ms. Hardigg, in her home inHanover, N.H., could fall asleep. All through Sunday morning they fretted, hearing from their interlocutor that if the handover did not happen before sundown Syria time roughly seven hours ahead of the East Coast the transfer might be called off. It was 11:43 a.m. when Ms. Hardigg got an email informing her of his release, she said, and her hands holding a cup of coffee began to shake. She caughtherself on the wall, and slipped to the floor, tears streaming. At a farm outside New York, Ms. Rosen got the same news, and she, too, had to sit down.




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Peter Theo Curtis



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Mr. Curtiss release was likely to raise further questions about what, if any, con

cessions should be made to militant groups holding Western nationals. The beheading of Mr. Foley, which shocked and enraged much of the world, also may have spurred Qatar to press more intensively for Mr. Curtiss release.


Play Video|0:21




Mr. Foleys death, apparently at the hands of a masked ISIS guard believed to be British, which was filmed and uploaded on YouTube, came after European nations and organizations had negotiated the liberation of more than a dozen of their citizens held in the same cell as Mr. Foley for ransoms averaging more than $2.5 million, according to former hostages, their families, negotiators and officials involved in their releases.


Relatives of Mr. Curtis said in an interview that after numerous failed starts and after having received ransom demands ranging from $3 million to $25 million,the panicked family was introduced by Samantha Power, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, to her Qatari counterpart after learning that Qatar ha


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d successfully won the release of Europeans kidnapped by Al Qaedas branch in Yemen. As soon as Qatar became involved, the relatives said, they felt as if an avenue of communication had been opened. For the first time, they were able to senda proof-of-life question which only Mr. Curtis could have answered: What was thesubject of your Ph.D. dissertation? (Answer: a museum started by the mother ofthe novelist Anthony Trollope.)

Our family wants to thank the country of Qatar in a big way,said Amy Rosen, a cousin. Every person that our family dealt with in Qatar said that under no circumstances would a ransom be paid and that this was something the U.S. government hadrequested, and they had agreed to,she said. But at the same time, we dont pretendto know everything that happened.



Ms. Rosen and Viva Hardigg, another cousin, said they began hearing late Saturda

y night that Qatars efforts had succeeded, and that Mr. Curtis was soon going tobe delivered to an appointed spot in the Golan Heights.





Photo

Peter Theo Curtis




7/23

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A photograph of James Foley at work was viewed by those who attended a Mass in h

is honor in Rochester, N.H., on Sunday.




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Mr. Curtiss release was likely to raise further questions about what, if any, concessions should be made to militant groups holding Western nationals. The beheading of Mr. Foley, which shocked and enraged much of the world, also may have spurred Qatar to press more intensively for Mr. Curtiss release.


Play Video|0:21






Relatives of Mr. Curtis said in an interview that after numerous failed starts and after having received ransom demands ranging from $3 million to $25 million,the panicked family was introduced by Samantha Power, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, to her Qatari counterpart after learning that Qatar had successfully won the release of Europeans kidnapped by Al Qaedas branch in Yemen. As soon as Qatar became involved, the relatives said, they felt as if an avenue of communication had been opened. For the first time, they were able to send

a proof-of-life question which only Mr. Curtis could have answered: What was thesubject of your Ph.D. dissertation? (Answer: a museum started by the mother ofthe novelist Anthony Trollope.)

Our family wants to thank the country of Qatar in a big way,said Amy Rosen, a cousin. Every person that our family dealt with in Qatar said that under no circumstances would a ransom be paid and that this was something the U.S. government hadrequested, and they had agreed to,she said. But at the same time, we dont pretend


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to know everything that happened.



Ms. Rosen and Viva Hardigg, another cousin, said they began hearing late Saturday night that Qatars efforts had succeeded, and that Mr. Curtis was soon going tobe delivered to an appointed spot in the Golan Heights.





Photo

Peter Theo Curtis



facebook

twitter

save

more



10/23


Relatives of the freed hostage, Peter Theo Curtis, 45, said that while they werenot privy to the exact terms, they were told that no ransom had been paid. Yethis surprise liberation by the Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front, came less thana week after the decapitation of another American journalist, James Foley, heldby a different and even more radical jihadist group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.


Related Coverage










Mr. Curtiss release was likely to raise further questions about what, if any, concessions should be made to militant groups holding Western nationals. The beheading of Mr. Foley, which shocked and enraged much of the world, also may have spu


11/23

rred Qatar to press more intensively for Mr. Curtiss release.


Play Video|0:21













12/23





Photo

Peter Theo Curtis



facebook

twitter

save

more



Relatives of the freed hostage, Peter Theo Curtis, 45, said that while they werenot privy to the exact terms, they were told that no ransom had been paid. Yethis surprise liberation by the Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front, came less thana week after the decapitation of another American journalist, James Foley, held


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by a different and even more radical jihadist group, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.


Related Coverage












Play Video|0:21




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Neither Ms. Rosen, in her bedroom in New Jersey, nor Ms. Hardigg, in her home inHanover, N.H., could fall asleep. All through Sunday morning they fretted, hear

ing from their interlocutor that if the handover did not happen before sundown Syria time roughly seven hours ahead of the East Coast the transfer might be called off. It was 11:43 a.m. when Ms. Hardigg got an email informing her of his release, she said, and her hands holding a cup of coffee began to shake. She caughtherself on the wall, and slipped to the floor, tears streaming. At a farm outside New York, Ms. Rosen got the same news, and she, too, had to sit down.




15/23


Photo

Peter Theo Curtis



facebook

twitter

save

more





Related Coverage



16/23










Play Video|0:21





News of Mr. Curtiss release came as British officials said they were close to identifying Mr. Foleys suspected killer, based on voice-recognition technology, eave


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sdropped phone recordings and other intelligence tools. If the suspect is identified, it could give officials insight into the ISIS captors, who are holding another American journalist, Steven J. Sotloff, and two other Americans.











Photo

Peter Theo Curtis


18/23



facebook

twitter

save

more





Related Coverage


They were so nonchalant. They didnt point a gun at me, and moved me very gently.Matthew Schrier described his abduction in Aleppo on Dec. 31 by fighters with the

Nusra Front, which is aligned with Al Qaeda.




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Play Video|0:21






Relatives of Mr. Curtis said in an interview that after numerous failed starts and after having received ransom demands ranging from $3 million to $25 million,the panicked family was introduced by Samantha Power, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, to her Qatari counterpart after learning that Qatar had successfully won the release of Europeans kidnapped by Al Qaedas branch in Yemen. As soon as Qatar became involved, the relatives said, they felt as if an avenue of communication had been opened. For the first time, they were able to senda proof-of-life question which only Mr. Curtis could have answered: What was thesubject of your Ph.D. dissertation? (Answer: a museum started by the mother of


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the novelist Anthony Trollope.)










Photo

Peter Theo Curtis



facebook

twitter


21/23

save

more





Related Coverage


They were so nonchalant. They didnt point a gun at me, and moved me very gently.Matthew Schrier described his abduction in Aleppo on Dec. 31 by fighters with the

Nusra Front, which is aligned with Al Qaeda.







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Play Video|0:21









The United Nations said in a statement that Mr. Curtis had been handed over to U


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nited Nations peacekeepers in Al Rafid village, in the disputed Golan Heights region straddling Syria and Israel, at 6:40 p.m. local time. The family was told that an American doctor met him, and after a check-up had confirmed that he was healthy. He will be debriefed by the F.B.I. before he returns home.



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