Original version

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

The Documentary

Documentaries

Factual

Investigating global developments, issues and affairs.

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

The Documentary: Held Hostage in Syria

Syrian Hostages

11/06/2016 GMT

Held Hostage in Syria

BBC World Service - The Documentary, Held Hostage in Syria

Four European hostages held by Islamic State talk about their months of incarceration

Four hostages held by Islamic State - aid worker Federico Motka, journalists Didier Francois and Daniel Rye, and blogger Pierre Torres - talk about their months of captivity.

Speaking together for the first time, four European hostages of so-called Islamic State talk to Lyse Doucet about their period of incarceration between March 2013 and June 2014. Aid worker Federico Motka, journalists Didier Francois and Daniel Rye, and blogger Pierre Torres were all held for between 10 and 14 months each.

They all found their own way of coping with the situation. Federico Motka lowered his gaze and raised his guard to avoid his captors' efforts to demean him. Didier Francois pushed back and stared them straight in the eye. Daniel Rye, an elite gymnast, did the splits to convince them he was not a spy, and Pierre Torres took beatings, but satisfaction, from ignoring their orders.

This is their first reunion since they were freed, at different times, two years ago, and is a celebration of friendship forged in the most threatening of circumstances. They talk about the months without sunlight, weeks chained together, days upon days of beatings. There was little food, and so much longing for clean clothes, a proper toilet, and most of all, freedom.

(Photo: Left to right - Pierre Torres, Federico Motka, Didier Francois, Daniel Rye Ottosen. Credit: Giles Duley)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Documentary

Held Hostage in Syria

Genres

Brand

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

About BBC World Service