US journalist freed by Syria militants

A US journalist abducted in October 2012 was released Sunday in Syria to UN representatives.

Peter Theo Curtis, 45, who appeared in a video on June 30 reading a prepared script saying that he was a journalist from Boston, was initially abducted in Antakya, Turkey.

Curtis was handed over to UN peacekeepers Sunday evening in al-Rafid village in the Quneitra area of the Golan Heights, the UN said. He received a medical check-up and was delivered to US government representatives.

Curtis’ handover was arranged through Qatari mediation, according to a report by broadcaster Al Jazeera.

“We join his family and loved ones in welcoming his freedom,” said Susan Rice, national security advisor to US President Barack Obama.

“Theo is now safe outside of Syria, and we expect he will be reunited with his family shortly. Just as we celebrate Theo’s freedom, we hold in our thoughts and prayers the Americans who remain in captivity in Syria.” She said the US “will continue to use all of the tools at our disposal to see that the remaining American hostages are freed.” Curtis’ release follows Wednesday’s publication of a video showing the beheading of US photojournalist James Foley by Islamist militants calling themselves the Islamic State. Foley went missing in November 2012 in Syria.

US officials believe three US citizens remain captive in the hands of Islamic State, which operates in Syria and Iraq.

Curtis’ family said Sunday that they believed he was held by al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra or allied splinter groups. Jabhat al-Nusra, the al-Nusra Front, was previously allied with the Islamic State militants before a bitter split.

Curtis’ mother, Nancy, said she was “eternally grateful” to the US and Qatari governments and “incredible people” both public and private who helped gain her son’s release.

“While the family is not privy to the exact terms that were negotiated, we were repeatedly told by representatives of the Qatari government that they were mediating for Theo’s release on a humanitarian basis without the payment of money,” she said.

Theo Curtis studied Arabic years ago in Damascus and returned to Syria during the civil war out of “deep concern and regard for the people of Syria,” his mother said.

“He wanted to help others and to give meaning and to bear witness to their struggles,” she said. “I am very fortunate that I do not have to tell his whole story. He eventually will be able to do so himself.” Nancy Curtis said her “entire focus” was now on caring for her son and “helping the other families of those still being held in Syria.” International press freedom group Reporters Without Borders has said that three foreign journalists are still being held hostage in Syria, alongside some 50 Syrian professional or citizen journalists, either by armed groups or President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

The New York—based Committee to Protect Journalists welcomed Curtis’ return from “harrowing captivity” but remained “deeply concerned for the safety of all the journalists who remain hostages in Syria,” said Sherif Mansour, Middle East and North Africa programme coordinator for the group.

CPJ said that at least 70 journalists have been killed covering the Syrian conflict, including some who died over the border in Lebanon and Turkey. The group estimated that more than 80 journalists have been kidnapped in Syria with about 20 currently missing in Syria, the majority of whom are Syrian.

“Syria has been the most dangerous country in the world for journalists for more than two years,” CPJ said.