下载

Alan Johnston emerged from his captivity in the early hour with his ordeal over without violence, taken and held for being a journalist who just wanted to tell the story around him. He was the only western correspondent who remained in Gaza when others left as a result of the violence and the fear that it would get worse. He persevered, and he suffered for it. Others have suffered too. There are four British hostages in Baghdad at the moment, and behind the scenes there are efforts being made to make sure that they are safe too.

An extraordinary campaign was mounted to try to force Alan Johnston’s kidnappers to let him go. Journalists were involved of course, governments too, the BBC itself, but also many many people who understood how important it was to defend the principle of freedom for journalists to report what they see and to bring news from the frontline, to the world outside and we all understood how dangerous it sometimes has to be.

I was able to talk to Alan this morning, a wonderful moment as he crossed from Gaza into Israel at the outlet’s checkpoint and he told me what he was thinking as he savored his freedom.

Jim, I literally dreamt many many times of being free and always the dream ended in the same way with waking up in that room. And it’s finally surreal, to be honest now, I just crossed into Israel, and just the idea that I am really not gonna wake up in that room everyday is the most almighty really * fair. I think maybe you need to be a prisoner of some kind to appreciate just what basic freedom really really means. Just be out with familiar, your family, and friends and walk on the street, walk to any door you like and just, almost * in the feeling of freedom. It’s the most extraordinary force in July.

What kept you going?

I think that you have to keep this whole thing in perspective, it was four months, but I would like to tell you Wade and Brian Keynan did four years, you know, and both of them sent me messages on the World Service. I had a radio and I heard and there were through an absolute inspiration and telewaves that you know you will find resources within yourself that you perhaps didn’t know you had, I sure that that’s true, that’s through the everyone in everyday life. You are not required to draw on all the strength that you might have. I am sure that it’s true for everyone. And the other thing that tell you wait is that you’ve got to just live each day, you have to get through each day and see what tomorrow brings. I just hope every prisoner held unjustly around the world, I just hoped that they can keep going and hoped that their luck’s gonna change, that somehow someway things are gonna get better and that doors are gonna open. But you’ve been lying there for three months, then you just wonder why you shouldn’t be still lying there in 9 months or 18 months or two years’ time, that’s the thing I fear that really nors at you and that for you got to fight, you’ve just got to try and keep the wave of depression and anxiety and fear at a minimum. And just try to look for anything that you know faintly positive in your situation. For example, that they may haven’t killed you, that they are not torturing you and actually the food is not making you ill though there’s not much to work on what you got but you can’t let yourself go under……