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MUMBAI:
Alan Johnston, the BBC's former Gaza correspondent, was kidnapped
by a group known as The Army of Islam on 12 March 2007 and was finally
set free after 114 days on July 4. Alan tells the full story of
his time in captivity in Panorama's Kidnapped: The Alan Johnston
Story on BBC World.
 Alan
had just 16 days left of his three year assignment in Gaza when
he was snatched by the fanatical Jihadist group. He describes the
beginning of his ordeal, "The car pulled up just ahead of me,
the door flung open on the passenger front side and out stepped
a young guy with a pistol… I was vaguely aware of another gunman
coming out of the other side of the kidnappers' car and I knew immediately
what was happening."
Alan
was hooded, handcuffed then taken to an apartment and left in an
empty room. He met with the Jihadi leader who explained that his
kidnapping was about securing the release of Muslims jailed in Britain.
Later The Army of Islam would describe Alan as a prisoner in what
they see as the war between Muslims and non-Muslims.
"I
imagined being put into that red suit that they would make me wear
for any video work. I imagined perhaps one of them in a hood, imagined
one of them stepping up, imagined having a knee in my back or the
back of my neck and then my throat being cut."
 Alan
was worried about the effect his abduction would have on his elderly
parents and his sister and "felt very bad at having brought
the worst of the world's troubles" into their peaceful lives
in Scotland. However, when his captors allowed him to see a televised
appeal his parents made for his release, he realised that they weren't
being broken and it was a vast relief to see his father's "powerful
and dignified" address.
Panorama
also reveals the behind-the-scenes story of the hostage negotiators
who corresponded by email with shadowy go-betweens to try to secure
his release. Alan describes how the kidnap reached a climax as the
fighting intensified between Fatah and Hamas and how he was finally
freed, fearing he would be shot right up until the moment of his
dramatic handover.
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