A Polish photojournalist
kidnapped in Syria in July is safely back home
after escaping his captors, Poland’s foreign
ministry said Thursday. Polish officials did not reveal how Marcin Suder
was able to flee or give details of his time in
captivity, saying only that he has been back in
Poland for “some days”. Suder’s mother told Polish radio he had been
held in a dark basement before his escape. “Marcin Suder is already back home,” Foreign
Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on his official
Twitter account. “He was very lucky, he managed to escape,”
foreign ministry spokesman Marcin
Wojciechowski told AFP. He added: “He’s here since some days,
surrounded by his family. He is in good health.” Masked gunmen abducted the 34-year-old
freelancer, who worked for the Corbis agency
and other outlets, on July 24 during a raid on a
media centre in Saraqeb in the northwestern
province of Idlib. No reason was given for his kidnapping and no
one publicly claimed responsibility for the
abduction. “Polish consular services in the region helped
the photographer return home,” Wojciechowski
told reporters. “We also want to thank the (Polish) defence
ministry for ensuring his air transport from
Turkey to Poland.” Suder’s mother said her son was in shock but
otherwise mentally fine. “Physically, he’s thin and, let’s say, some marks
of something remain on his body. But he really
doesn’t look that bad,” Krystyna Jarosz told
Poland’s commercial RMF FM radio. Without explaining the marks, she said he was
held in a dark basement, without food at first:
“Later he got a bit of food. It wasn’t a spa, I’ll
put it that way.” Press watchdog Reporters Without Borders
says Syria is the most dangerous country for
media to work in, with around 15 foreign
journalists still missing or held hostage there. At least 25 professional journalists and 70
citizen journalists have been killed since the
start of the Syrian revolt in March 2011, it said.
kidnapped in Syria in July is safely back home
after escaping his captors, Poland’s foreign
ministry said Thursday. Polish officials did not reveal how Marcin Suder
was able to flee or give details of his time in
captivity, saying only that he has been back in
Poland for “some days”. Suder’s mother told Polish radio he had been
held in a dark basement before his escape. “Marcin Suder is already back home,” Foreign
Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said on his official
Twitter account. “He was very lucky, he managed to escape,”
foreign ministry spokesman Marcin
Wojciechowski told AFP. He added: “He’s here since some days,
surrounded by his family. He is in good health.” Masked gunmen abducted the 34-year-old
freelancer, who worked for the Corbis agency
and other outlets, on July 24 during a raid on a
media centre in Saraqeb in the northwestern
province of Idlib. No reason was given for his kidnapping and no
one publicly claimed responsibility for the
abduction. “Polish consular services in the region helped
the photographer return home,” Wojciechowski
told reporters. “We also want to thank the (Polish) defence
ministry for ensuring his air transport from
Turkey to Poland.” Suder’s mother said her son was in shock but
otherwise mentally fine. “Physically, he’s thin and, let’s say, some marks
of something remain on his body. But he really
doesn’t look that bad,” Krystyna Jarosz told
Poland’s commercial RMF FM radio. Without explaining the marks, she said he was
held in a dark basement, without food at first:
“Later he got a bit of food. It wasn’t a spa, I’ll
put it that way.” Press watchdog Reporters Without Borders
says Syria is the most dangerous country for
media to work in, with around 15 foreign
journalists still missing or held hostage there. At least 25 professional journalists and 70
citizen journalists have been killed since the
start of the Syrian revolt in March 2011, it said.
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