WEBVTT - How Nigel Brennan Survived 15 Months in Captivity – Part 2 0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.320 We'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:06.760 on which this podcast was produced, the Gadigall people of 0:00:06.800 --> 0:00:10.360 the orination. We pay our respects to Elder's past and present. 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:18.319 Sister picks up the phone and basically says, I have 0:00:18.400 --> 0:00:23.400 your brother Nigel with Amandolind out. We're demanding one point 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:28.120 five million dollars each US so three million dollar ransom demand. 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:31.040 If you don't pay within the next twenty four hours, 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:33.840 we'll execute them. 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:35.320 Welcome back to Headgame. 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:40.400 My yesterday is Nigel Brennan, who survived being kidnapped in 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:45.040 Somalia two thousand and eight, was working as a photojournalist 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:48.680 to hear part one of this incredible story. I'll drop 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:51.640 the link in the show notes. Here's the second half 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:53.280 of my conversation. 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:54.240 With Nigel Brennan. 0:00:57.000 --> 0:01:00.880 Did they think that it was a frank? What was 0:01:00.960 --> 0:01:03.360 the reality back home when they got that phone call? 0:01:04.480 --> 0:01:06.840 So, I hadn't told any of my family what I 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:09.880 was doing, so I'd literally told two mates I went 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:12.560 to university that what I was about what I was 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:15.559 planning to do. So I told mom I was going 0:01:15.600 --> 0:01:19.640 to Kenya. Somm was like no, no, Nigel's in Kenya, 0:01:19.840 --> 0:01:23.000 He's not in Somalia, and I think nat my brother 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:25.440 grabbed an Atlas and you know, obviously I opened up 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:28.560 Africa and was like, look, mom, Somalia. 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:30.000 Is right next to Kenya exactly. 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:33.760 And the fact that they'd said Amanda's name, and I 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:38.840 obviously had relationships with Amanda a few years earlier. They 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:42.720 were like, yeah, basically all the dots coming to other together. 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:46.520 This is the likelihood is Nigel is in Somalia with Amanda. 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:49.400 And when was the first time that the Australian Embassy 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:53.680 was informed? Was it shortly after did your family call 0:01:53.720 --> 0:01:54.640 the Australian Embassy? 0:01:55.600 --> 0:01:58.760 My family called I believe Department of Foreign Affairs and 0:01:58.800 --> 0:02:02.560 Trade directly after that uncle and said, We've just received 0:02:02.560 --> 0:02:05.920 a phone call saying that Nigel's been kidnapped. And I 0:02:06.040 --> 0:02:11.520 believe Defat's response was, we cannot either confirm or deny 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:13.440 whether Nigel has been kidnapped or not. 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:17.760 Wow, So yeah they knew. 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:23.120 Which again was I think the cat mouse with the 0:02:23.160 --> 0:02:24.880 family and the Australian government that went on for the 0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:28.280 next twelve months, which from my point of view, coming 0:02:28.320 --> 0:02:31.440 home and saying what my family had to deal with 0:02:31.680 --> 0:02:34.840 in terms of dealing with the Australian government. Was really frustrating? 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:39.640 Was it? So? Straight away Amanda gets sexually assaulted? What 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:42.600 happens to you? Does anything like that happen to you? 0:02:43.080 --> 0:02:43.120 Not? 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:45.200 Any beatings any. 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:48.640 No beatings basically mock executions. 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:50.440 Nope. 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:53.200 During the abduction, we won't blindfolded or anything like that. 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:56.120 Just the fear, I think is someone coming in with 0:02:56.160 --> 0:02:57.720 an AK forty seven and sort of sitting it on 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:01.360 the lap pointing at you and morning information. Obviously five 0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:03.239 months into Ara or do we escape? 0:03:03.960 --> 0:03:06.000 Tell me about that? Wow? Wow? 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:09.359 So I talk about conjuring up a plan. Maybe due 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:11.480 to my training, I started straight away. 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:12.799 So after a. 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:16.080 Few months, you obviously get to know the guards, you 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:19.840 get to know the location, You get to know a 0:03:19.880 --> 0:03:20.760 bit of a routine. 0:03:20.919 --> 0:03:22.399 Yep, how does that pan out? 0:03:22.400 --> 0:03:24.560 And when do you decide right, it's time to get 0:03:24.560 --> 0:03:26.520 out of here? 0:03:26.320 --> 0:03:33.840 The escape came around really after our three colleagues had 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:37.840 been taken out of the house and never returned. So 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:41.160 let me go back a little bit. Amanda and I 0:03:41.200 --> 0:03:45.040 convert to Islam after ten days as a survival technique. 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:47.680 I guess we were kept together for the first two months, 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:52.240 and then we're actually separated after two months. Their reasoning is, 0:03:52.640 --> 0:03:55.000 as a Muslim man and a woman that are unmarried, 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:57.520 we shouldn't be sharing the same room. It's a way 0:03:57.560 --> 0:03:59.800 for them to conquer and divide. I think apply them 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:03.520 more pressure. Some of my concern for a man to 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:06.280 sort of INTENSIFIESE at that stage because I'm not in 0:04:06.280 --> 0:04:09.000 a room and I can't protect her. During the next 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:12.440 three months of our separation, she's taken out twice and 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:15.000 they basically do mock execution before they put her on 0:04:15.000 --> 0:04:15.400 the phone. 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:17.440 So she's getting the brun of everything. 0:04:17.520 --> 0:04:23.080 Basically, yes, and it's always pick one. It's a technique 0:04:23.120 --> 0:04:25.640 that they use. They always pick one to try and 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:26.560 break the other down. 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:30.440 Well, I think the reason I'm guessing at this, but 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:34.040 when we were first taken in the kidnap for ransom 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:38.640 world extortion response, Well, we talk about I guess putting 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:41.679 a safety net under hostages, like offer a small amount 0:04:41.720 --> 0:04:46.840 of money to keep hostages safe. So my dad had 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:49.239 basically put twenty five thousand dollars straight on the table. 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:51.839 So when the head guys used to come in and 0:04:51.839 --> 0:04:54.040 talk to me, they would say, your situation is good, 0:04:54.600 --> 0:04:59.279 stray and government is working with this Canadian government's causing problems. 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:03.200 So I think the kidnappers had sort of used that 0:05:03.279 --> 0:05:05.920 as a way to really apply pressure to Amanda and 0:05:06.200 --> 0:05:07.120 her family. 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:09.680 And also show you know, if you play ball, this 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:12.240 how you get treated. If you don't, then this is 0:05:12.240 --> 0:05:15.440 how you get treated. Absolutely is a massive head game, 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:18.839 massive head head fun, should we say, it's messes with 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:21.360 your mind and you know, almost to the point where 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:23.640 you know you want to be on your side, right. 0:05:23.800 --> 0:05:27.000 Yeah, we're separated. I think Amanda and I were allowed 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:30.440 to sit together on two occasions. I think the first 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:32.440 time was for about four hours. The next time was 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:36.120 for two hours. And as a I guess as a 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:38.599 hostage or a prisoner, you work out very quickly ways 0:05:38.640 --> 0:05:41.240 of communicating when you're separated, and you know, started through 0:05:41.279 --> 0:05:44.120 knock codes, and we were leaving little messages for each 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:46.680 other in the toilet in the back bathroom that we 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:50.599 shared in this house. But you do get into a rhythm. 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:52.559 We were sort of moved every four to six weeks 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:54.120 to a different house, and we were somewhere in the 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:57.400 north of mogad Issue, so there was always a routine 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:01.320 on how we are moved stage at Abdy and the two 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:03.320 drivers are still in the house. They're being sort of 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:07.360 kept in another room in complete darkness. I can see 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:09.680 them from our room occasionally and sort of wave, and 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:13.520 he's Abdy sort of saying, where's the money? Oh? 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:17.279 Really, well yah, thinking about himself. Pay now so we 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:18.279 can get the hell out of it. 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:18.760 Yeah. 0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:21.320 So I'd always like, we talked about escape, and I'd 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:24.039 been looking at the house that we're in and it's like, 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:26.560 is there a way of getting out? And you know, 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:28.560 you've got a two foot high wall with razor wire 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:32.560 on it, that's not a possibility. I'd looked. I'd been 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:33.960 able to sort of sneak out of my room. We 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:35.839 were never locked in our rooms. The doors were always 0:06:35.839 --> 0:06:38.080 shut and you just had guards that would sort of 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:41.000 roam occasionally, so you never sort of really knew when 0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:43.640 they were going to come past. So I looked in 0:06:43.680 --> 0:06:46.520 the kitchen, could see up into a manhole and could 0:06:46.560 --> 0:06:48.719 see that the tin roof and was like, maybe we 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:51.080 can punch our way through there and do a bolt. 0:06:51.160 --> 0:06:52.880 And it's like, well, no, that's going to be too noisy. 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:56.960 But Amanda and I had discussed, I guess, particularly after 0:06:57.080 --> 0:07:01.240 her I guess, fake assassination, some sort of things that 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:04.479 they've done on her, the possibility of escaping, and for 0:07:04.600 --> 0:07:08.080 me it was like, well, again, didn't feel ethically right 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:10.360 for the two of us to get out, and the 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:13.960 three Somarians would end up as collateral damage potentially, So 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:16.760 once they were taken out of the building one night, 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:20.520 next morning, Jamal, one of our young captors, came in 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:23.560 and I said, where's Abdi, where are the two drivers, 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:27.000 And he'd explained that they had been released back to 0:07:27.040 --> 0:07:29.800 their families. And every morning our windows were open, and 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:31.760 Amanda and I used to knock up the wall to 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:33.960 come to the window so that we could communicate with 0:07:34.000 --> 0:07:38.360 each other secretly in quiet voices, and both of us 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:40.360 were really excited, sort of saying, oh, this is great, 0:07:40.560 --> 0:07:43.200 like finally something's starting to happen. If they've released them, 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:46.920 this is a good sign. And again, yet your head 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:48.760 starts to play tricks on you, and it's like, well, 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:52.240 hang on. If they were released and their locals, they 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:55.880 would know where we're being held, and the group would 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:57.680 probably want to move us fairly quickly so that we're 0:07:57.680 --> 0:08:01.200 in another location. And captors didn't seem in any sort 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:05.280 of rush to nervous, so then it's like, you know, 0:08:05.360 --> 0:08:09.440 you start overthinking things. And then another young captor came 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:14.200 in who terrified me. This young guy absolutely scared the 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:16.360 shit out of me. And I said to him, I said, oh, 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:18.760 it's great news that Abdy's and the other guys have 0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:20.480 been released to their family. And he laughed in my 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:22.560 face and he said, who told you that? And I said, 0:08:22.600 --> 0:08:25.040 Jamal And he said, well, Jamal alighted. He said they 0:08:25.080 --> 0:08:27.800 were handed over to al Shabob last night and this 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:30.520 morning all three of them were beheaded for working with 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.839 for working with Westerners. And again it's that. 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:38.760 Mine game mind. 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:41.920 Game, like it's like and by that stage, like the windows, 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:44.480 our windows had been closed, so I couldn't communicate with 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:46.800 a Manda. But you know, for the next fourteen hours, 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:53.600 it's just like that's probably the Yeah, those guys are 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:55.880 no longer here. Let's basically just so. 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:59.160 You forged your plan to escape it. 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:02.800 Actually it went really well to start off with. So 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:05.080 where Amanda was bang held in her room, she looked 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:07.520 straight down the hallway to where our guards were situated 0:09:07.640 --> 0:09:10.880 on the front ferranda, and her eyesight was obviously quite poor, 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:12.680 but with a little pin hole in the middle door 0:09:13.400 --> 0:09:16.720 she could see down to the front. So whenever we 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:18.080 wanted to go to the toilet, we had to bang 0:09:18.080 --> 0:09:20.560 on our door and wait for a guard to come 0:09:20.840 --> 0:09:24.240 and basically, so, yeah, you can go. So by this 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:26.520 stage I'd learn a little bit of Arabic. I'd learned 0:09:26.520 --> 0:09:28.880 some Somali just you know, please, thank you. Can I 0:09:28.880 --> 0:09:30.600 go to the toilet? Can I speak to this person? 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:34.560 Can you please help me? I had learned a couple 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:37.760 of sewers of the Koran, how to say the profession 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:40.560 of faith, those sorts of things. So I'd been looking 0:09:40.600 --> 0:09:45.000 at our bathroom and it was about six foot off 0:09:45.040 --> 0:09:49.040 the ground. Obviously best of brick sort of blocks, but 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:50.880 the lattice style ones that you could look through that 0:09:50.920 --> 0:09:53.440 they use in Africa. Had looked at that and could 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:55.400 just see it was dabbed with mortar on the corners. 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:58.079 The problem was there was these five metal bars running 0:09:58.120 --> 0:10:01.680 across in front of them. So I thought, I'll jump 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:03.320 up on one of those bars and pull myself up 0:10:03.360 --> 0:10:05.000 onto the window. And as I jumped up, the whole 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:07.520 thing sort of slid. So I was like, oh, it's 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:10.400 not cool, field like that move. So I basically sort 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:13.559 of quietly pushed and pulled it until I could see 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:15.600 the end of the metal, and then bent the piece 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:17.240 of metal and could get it out, And I said 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:19.439 to Amanda, went back and knocked on the door and 0:10:19.480 --> 0:10:21.040 we went to the window. I said, right, I got away. 0:10:21.600 --> 0:10:23.760 I need you to be my eyes and ears. So 0:10:23.800 --> 0:10:26.120 I'm basically going to sneak out of the room. If 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:27.640 you see someone coming, you bang on the door so 0:10:27.640 --> 0:10:30.000 that we want to go to the toilets. I had 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:32.280 a little pair of ail clippers with one of the 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:34.800 little files that came out at the end, and over 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:37.160 the next two and a half days basically chiseled out 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:41.360 this mortar, took out two of the bars, went back 0:10:41.400 --> 0:10:43.080 after two and a half days and said to Amanda, right, 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:44.600 we're good to go. What's the plant? 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:56.800 Wow? For sure? You grab her? 0:10:56.880 --> 0:11:01.720 And well, pretty much once I was separated from Amanda, 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:04.000 I was allowed to go outside once a week for 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:07.760 an hour and do washing, and could obviously see planes 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:10.760 before they sort of disappeared behind the wall. And thought 0:11:10.760 --> 0:11:13.760 that must have been Mogadishu Airport, because we knew we 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:16.720 were fairly close to Mogadishu. So I said to Amanda right, 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:19.720 let's go after we both agreed that we would go 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:23.760 after final prayer, we'd get out basically very quietly, and 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:26.120 then just run in that direction. The problem with that 0:11:26.280 --> 0:11:29.560 is Mogadishu streets aren't like normal Western streets that are 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:32.520 nice and long that it's like a rabbit warren. So 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:35.400 I said to Amanda, basically, after final prayer, you knock 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:38.160 on the door, I'll follow you out truck and trailer 0:11:38.320 --> 0:11:40.439 into the bathroom. I'll take out the bars, take out 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:44.040 the blocks, and bang week and slip out. So first attempt, 0:11:44.520 --> 0:11:46.640 get the blocks out, get the bars out, push Amanda 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:50.079 up onto the ledge of the window, and she's contorting herself, 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:53.000 and she turns around. She says, I can't fit, and 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:55.679 I'm just like, fuck yeah, fuck you got to you 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:58.720 gotta get out, like this is our chance. And realize 0:11:58.760 --> 0:12:00.520 that she can't fit, like I need to out another 0:12:00.559 --> 0:12:03.960 bar and it's too noisy, So send Amanda back to 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:07.640 her room. And then so I'm sitting in this bathroom 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:09.679 looking at this gaping hole in the wall and knowing that, 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:11.839 you know, one of the guards could walk into the 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:16.280 bathroom at any stage. Then over the next four hours, 0:12:16.320 --> 0:12:18.200 I basically feign that I have diarrhea and that I 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:20.480 need to go to the bathroom again and again as 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:23.720 I rebuild the best of book We're all and put 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:27.120 the rods in. Finally do it, fall asleep, have the 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:30.360 best night's sleep of my entire captivity, and wake up 0:12:30.400 --> 0:12:33.040 in the morning, go and basically remove them another bar 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:36.680 without ovn Amanda knowing, and then said, right, got a 0:12:36.720 --> 0:12:39.920 new plan because she had explained that whilst they were 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:43.199 taking her out on one of those fake assassinations. She said, 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:45.800 basically the streets were lined with mass you know, with 0:12:45.840 --> 0:12:47.800 guys with AK forty seven's And I was like, we're 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:49.920 going to literally get out of the house and run 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:53.400 straight into potentially al Shabob or something like that. And 0:12:53.440 --> 0:12:55.840 I said, look, we're Muslim. There's a mosque right on 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:57.880 top of us. Because the call to prayer was so loud, 0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:00.400 I said, if I was in a West country and 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:01.719 I couldn't go to the police, I'd go to a 0:13:01.800 --> 0:13:04.280 church because hopefully you'd find people there that would help you. 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:10.320 So I said, today's Thursday, tomorrow's Friday, busiest day of 0:13:10.360 --> 0:13:13.480 the Muslim week. Let's go on Friday. And she said, 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:16.000 love the idea but what happens if they're nervous Tonight? 0:13:17.240 --> 0:13:22.040 I was just like, fuck you, yeah, that seed of doubt? Yeah, 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:23.880 why did you put it there? 0:13:24.480 --> 0:13:28.000 So I said, right, let's go midday today. We'll go 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:31.400 same thing. Basically, follow her out into the bathroom, throw 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:33.920 all the blocks out, throw the three bars out, watch 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:37.240 her disappear. I jump out, throw our bags out, throw 0:13:37.280 --> 0:13:39.800 my shoes out, get onto the ground, pulling on my shoes, 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:43.800 and like, I'm thinking we're going to have a minute 0:13:43.840 --> 0:13:47.280 or two head start, and this kid next door basically 0:13:47.360 --> 0:13:51.720 starts screaming in Somali, and I literally pull on my shoes, 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:56.800 put on my my camera bag, and run and again, 0:13:56.960 --> 0:14:00.560 like my brain just goes to complete mush. And so 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:03.800 we're sort of in between two houses, our house in 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:05.800 the next door neighbor's house, which I could have touched 0:14:06.280 --> 0:14:09.000 putting a hand through the window. Run down between the 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:10.880 two houses. No turning left will take us back to 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:13.640 the front gates of our compound, so the only option 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:15.920 is to turn right. And I just literally it's like 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:18.520 I'm running on air. I just sprint. I have no 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:22.560 idea where Amanda is. Come past our next door neighbors compound. 0:14:22.680 --> 0:14:24.480 I look over my shoulder and I can see this 0:14:24.520 --> 0:14:29.240 guy standing at his front compound gate and he says 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:32.280 in English, what are you doing? And I just keep running. 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:35.520 You know, it computes, but I don't respond. I get 0:14:35.560 --> 0:14:38.400 to a teener section, I can see the mosque minarets. 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:41.160 I look to my left, I can see like a 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:43.480 main road with lots of markets, and I just think 0:14:43.520 --> 0:14:46.720 safety in numbers, So I turn left and I start running, 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:48.720 so not going to the mosque, which. 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:52.400 Is completely just making up asub oh yeah. 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:54.520 And then I hear Amanda saying what are you doing? 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:57.120 And I basically do a one eighty run pass back her. 0:14:57.600 --> 0:15:01.280 Get to that teen A section again and the next 0:15:01.280 --> 0:15:03.040 on aber is standing there and he says do you 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:04.680 need help? And I'm like, just grab him under the 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:07.080 arm and I said, we've been kidnapped. By this stage, 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:09.120 Amanda catch us up and we're like, can you please 0:15:09.160 --> 0:15:10.880 help us? Can you take us to the mask? Whereas 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:14.520 it is like it's it's literally right there, So we 0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:18.480 basically sprint to the mask, run up the side stairs, 0:15:18.600 --> 0:15:20.760 and just as we're about to enter, there's a warning 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:23.360 shot from an AK forty seven behind us that goes 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:28.680 over our heads run into the mosque and there's obviously 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:32.720 men everywhere, and I start saying in Somali like I win, 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:34.800 I win, I win, please help, please help, please help 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:37.560 one a Muslim one day Muslim, I'm Muslim, we are Muslim, 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:41.160 and then say the profession of faith bism LAHI I'll 0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:46.760 rock money him. And then two other guys, older gentlemen, 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:49.400 Somali gentlemen, come over and they're speaking English to us. 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:52.120 And then the next thing, I just get king hit 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:55.680 from behind like a coward punch so Jamal and Abdullah 0:15:55.680 --> 0:16:01.800 who was the younger angry guard or obviously seconds behind us. 0:16:02.040 --> 0:16:03.680 So Jamals punched me in the back of the head. 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:05.240 He's now got me by the arm and he's trying 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:06.720 to pull me back out the door. And I ripped 0:16:06.720 --> 0:16:09.880 the sleeve off my shirt. Amanda has a hijab ripped off, 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:11.840 and he's got Amanda by the back of the hair 0:16:11.880 --> 0:16:13.880 and he's trying to pull her out. And then these 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:16.560 three older Somali men just grabbed these two young kids 0:16:16.600 --> 0:16:18.520 who've got AK forty seven's on them, and just grabbed 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:20.040 them by the throat and push them up against the 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:24.360 wall and they're screaming at them. And then this crowd 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:26.960 sort of envelops us and somebody else is speaking English. 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:29.160 You know, who are you? What's happened? You know, I'm 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:32.200 Nigel Brennan Strain photojournalists. We've been kidnapped for the last 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:36.080 five months. You're Muslim. One a Muslim, We are Muslim. 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:37.880 Do you want to pray? It's like, yeah, I want 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.480 to pray. I've never prayed in a mosque. So they 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:42.200 sort of push us into the middle of the mask 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:44.520 and then they put us into the pulpit and were 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:47.280 sitting there and it's I sort of say, it's like 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:50.239 the Bush Telegraph goes out that there's obviously two Westerners 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:54.400 now in the north of Mogadishue, and more people are 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:56.760 sort of flooding in to get a look at us. Yeah, 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:01.880 I'm pulling out my Koran. And we received a care 0:17:01.920 --> 0:17:05.439 package was while we were still together. But one of 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:08.800 the books was A Thousand Splendid Sons and in that 0:17:08.840 --> 0:17:11.119 book they talk about how Muslims kiss the book and 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:12.439 put it to their head. And I'm like, oh, this 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:14.040 is obviously what you do is Muslim. So I've got 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:15.840 my crown. I'm doing that and the Somalis are looking 0:17:15.880 --> 0:17:19.720 at me, like what is this weird doing? So I'm 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:23.119 pulling out all my religious books. I got the dry straight, 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:26.280 you know. I think from fear and stress and shock. 0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:31.320 And I can remember looking over my left shoulder in 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:32.800 the pulpit and there's a window there and I can 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:34.720 see big black figure and I'm like, can we play 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:37.520 shut those windows? Because I thought someone was just going 0:17:37.560 --> 0:17:39.320 to stick a gun through and shoot us. And it 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:42.320 was actually a woman, So they close the windows. That 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:44.920 woman actually pushes her way into the mosque and comes 0:17:44.920 --> 0:17:49.360 and sits between Amanda and myself. So there's like mayhem 0:17:49.440 --> 0:17:52.760 going on. It's hard to describe, sort of just trying 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:56.159 to talk to people understand what's going on, saying I 0:17:56.200 --> 0:17:58.280 guess the fear that's in the building as well. At 0:17:58.280 --> 0:18:00.720 one point where everyone starts to run away from us, 0:18:01.440 --> 0:18:03.720 and as they spread out, I can see guys just 0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:06.879 racing in with AK forty seven's and mass faces, and 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:07.399 it's just. 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:09.920 Like, you know what, if I didn't know that you 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:14.400 were captive for fifteen months, then I'd hold a bit 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:14.919 of hope for you. 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:17.920 But obviously you're handed back over right. 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:22.880 Yeah, we were recaptured. I think my fear at that moment. Look, 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:24.840 part of the escape for me was like I'm going 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:27.200 to take back control. If I'm going to die in Somalia, 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:28.840 I'm actually going to make someone work for it. I'm 0:18:28.880 --> 0:18:30.080 just going to take a buller in the back of 0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:32.199 the head, like you're going to have to kill me. 0:18:33.359 --> 0:18:35.879 But I think the reality of watching these guys now 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:37.720 flood and it was just like this is going to 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:40.240 end in an absolute blood bath, Like so many people 0:18:40.240 --> 0:18:42.480 are going to die here today, not just us, but 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:45.040 locals as well. So a man is trying to communicate 0:18:45.080 --> 0:18:48.000 with this woman basically points it herself, then uses the 0:18:48.000 --> 0:18:52.000 international sign for fornication and points at one of the 0:18:52.000 --> 0:18:55.119 young guards, and this woman starts screaming. And then the 0:18:55.160 --> 0:18:57.159 next minute I see our head guys come through the 0:18:57.400 --> 0:19:00.560 side door with pistols and guns and stuff. 0:19:01.480 --> 0:19:02.120 They sort of. 0:19:02.040 --> 0:19:05.119 Walk around the crowd, come back behind us, you know, 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:09.280 getting smashed by the butt of a pistol. So I 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:12.280 sort of go into fetal position. Amanda gets grabbed by 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:15.240 the hair and she's sort of dragged past me over 0:19:15.280 --> 0:19:17.040 to the other side of the mosque where there's a 0:19:17.080 --> 0:19:19.240 set of doors. Like I'm trying to watch what's going 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:22.639 on with her, trying to protect myself, and then maybe 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:24.480 ten to fifteen seconds later, I just tear a single 0:19:24.480 --> 0:19:28.239 gunshot and I'm like, fuck, they've just executed her. Like 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:31.080 that's all that I can think, and the reality of 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:34.280 my life is pretty much I've got minutes to live. 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:34.760 I reckon. 0:19:35.840 --> 0:19:39.960 So the guys that have taken Amanda come back again. 0:19:40.000 --> 0:19:42.160 I'm kicked and punched, and then i feel someone grabbed 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:44.720 me by the ankles and I'm then dragged basically to 0:19:44.760 --> 0:19:48.640