Kidnappers free Spanish journalists

MADRID: Three Spanish journalists kidnapped in Syria about 10 months ago were freed on Saturday and were due to fly home from Turkey yesterday, the Spanish Press Federation and the government said.

The trio, who had been working for various Spanish media around the time of their disappearance, were last seen in July 2015 in the northwestern city of Aleppo where they had been reporting on fighting.

“All three have been released — Antonio Pampliega, Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre — and are on their way [to Spain],” said Elsa Gonzalez, president of the Spanish Press Federation (FAPE).

A source close to the Spanish government said the men were in Turkey waiting for their flight back to Spain.

The source said they were in Turkey and were expected to return home yesterday morning.

“All three are well,” a government spokeswoman said, adding that Spain’s Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria had spoken to the men earlier on Saturday.

Their release had been “possible thanks to the collaboration of allies and friends especially in the final phase from Turkey and Qatar”, the government said in a statement.

FAPE’s Ms Gonzalez told of her “joy” over the freeing of the journalists.

She said the trio were now “in a safe place”.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group, the three reporters were last seen in a rebel-held area of Aleppo on July 13, 2015, when they were travelling in a van together before being taken away by armed men.

After they disappeared, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said officials were working with members of Spain’s National Intelligence Centre who were in Syria to try to secure their release.

The three freed Spaniards are all experienced conflict zone reporters.

Pampliega, a freelance war correspondent born in 1982, covered the civil war in Syria for a period up to 2013 and previously reported from Iraq.

Lopez, born in 1971, is a prize-winning photographer who contributed images from several war zones.

Sastre, 35, has worked in trouble spots around the world, including Syria, for Spanish television, radio and press.