Washington
August 25
Al Qaida-linked militants in Syria on Sunday freed an American writer missing since 2012 following what officials said were efforts by the Gulf Arab state of Qatar to win his release.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement that Peter Theo Curtis had been held by Nusra Front, Al-Qaida's official wing in Syria whose rivalry with militant group Islamic State has fueled war among the insurgents themselves.
President Barack Obama, who was briefed on Curtis' release, "shares in the joy and relief that we all feel now that Theo is out of Syria and safe," the White House said.
"But we continue to hold in our thoughts and prayers the Americans who remain in captivity in Syria, and we will continue to use all of the tools at our disposal to see that the remaining American hostages are freed," the statement added.
News of Curtis' release emerged just days after the Islamic State group posted a video on the Internet showing one of its fighters beheading American journalist James Foley, who was kidnapped in Syria in 2012.
The United Nations said in a statement "it can confirm that it facilitated the handover of Peter Theo Curtis. He was handed over to UN peacekeepers in Al Rafid village, Quneitra, the Golan Heights, on 24 August 2014. After receiving a medical check-up, Mr Curtis was handed over to representatives of his government."
White House national security adviser Susan Rice said in a statement that Curtis, 45, was "safe outside of Syria, and we expect he will be reunited with his family shortly."— AFP
An author & a journalist
Peter Theo Curtis, a US citizen held hostage in Syria, delivers a statement. AP/PTI
Peter Theo Curtis is an author and journalist who published books under the name Theo Padnos. His family said in a statement that he changed his name legally to Peter Theo Curtis after he published a memoir called "Undercover Muslim: A Journey into Yemen"
Curtis, who has a PhD in comparative literature from the University of Massachusetts, and is fluent in Arabic and French, wrote his first book about the frustrations of teaching literature to incarcerated teenagers in Vermont.
He later became fascinated with another type of troubled youth: Western men who converted to extremist Islamist causes. After moving to Yemen, he studied at religious madrassas along with disaffected young men from the US and Europe
Curtis entered Syria in 2012 hoping to write freelance news stories to help the Syrian people, family spokeswoman Betsy Sullivan said
Beheading video of Foley was ‘staged’
A masked Islamic State militant holding a knife stands next to James Foley at an unknown location.
The gruesome video of an Islamist militant beheading James Foley was probably staged with the actual murder taking place off-camera, according to forensic experts
It has emerged that the Briton might be a frontman and not the killer. The analysis highlights a number of discrepancies that could indicate that the beheading scene broadcast to the world was not the genuine killing
Firstly, no blood can be seen, even though the knife is drawn across the neck area at least six times Secondly, sounds allegedly made by Foley do not appear consistent with what may be expected
The forensic expert said no incision could be seen on Foley's neck, though the right hand of the jihadist partially blocked the shot
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