Mock Executions, Beatings: Journalists Describe ‘Surreal’ Imprisonment By Syrian Radicals
By Agence France-Presse
Monday, April 21, 2014 16:10 EDT
Mock executions, hunger, thirst, cold, beatings, a makeshift chess game to pass the time… and a “surreal” snowball fight with their jailers.
Details are starting to trickle through of the ordeal experienced by the four French journalists who returned home Sunday after being held hostage for 10 months at the hands of the most radical of Syria’s jihadist groups, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
But the journalists were reluctant to give too much away for fear of jeopardizing the safety of those who remain in captivity in the war-torn country, including U.S. journalist James Foley, a freelancer who had been working for Agence France-Presse and other media when he went missing in November 2012.
According to Didier Francois, 53, an experienced and highly respected war reporter for Europe 1 radio who was kidnapped on June 6 north of Aleppo along with 23-year-old photographer Edouard Elias, the first few days were particularly tough.
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/04/21/mock-executions-beatings-journalists-describe-surreal-imprisonment-by-syrian-radicals/