2014 news: Kidnapped American is freed

Monday, 25 August 2014

Kidnapped American is freed

"Please know that we will be eternally grateful," his mother says

Peter Theo Curtis is a freelance journalist and author

He had been held for nearly two years by Islamist militants

U.N. peacekeepers in the Golan Heights facilitated his handover

(CNN) -- An American journalist held in Syria by Islamist rebels for close to two years was released Sunday.

Peter Theo Curtis, 45, is believed to have been captured in October 2012 and held by the al-Nusra Front, a Syrian rebel group with ties to al Qaeda.

"My heart is full at the extraordinary, dedicated, incredible people, too many to name individually, who have become my friends and have tirelessly helped us over these many months," said Curtis' mother, Nancy Curtis. "Please know that we will be eternally grateful."

The United Nations said Curtis was handed over to U.N. peacekeepers in the Golan Heights, which is under Israeli government control, and was given a medical checkup.

American journalist Peter Theo Curtis is believed to have been captured in October 2012 and held by the al-Nusra Front, a Syrian rebel group with ties to al Qaeda. The United Nations said Curtis was handed over to U.N. peacekeepers on Sunday, August 24, in the Golan Heights, which is under Israeli government control.

Freelance American journalist Steven Sotloff, seen here in a photo from Facebook, disappeared during a reporting trip to Syria in August 2013. His family kept the news a secret until he was seen at the end of a video from the Islamic extremist group ISIS that shows the beheading of another journalist, James Foley.

Freelance reporter James Foley went missing in November 2012 after his car was stopped by gunmen in Syria. A video released by ISIS on Tuesday, August 19, shows Foley being beheaded. The video posted on YouTube contained a message to the United States to end its military operations in Iraq.

Alan Gross, at right with Rabbi Arthur Schneier, has been in Cuban custody since December 2009, when he was jailed while working as a subcontractor. Cuban authorities say Gross tried to set up illegal Internet connections on the island. Gross says he was just trying to help connect the Jewish community to the Internet. Former President Jimmy Carter and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson have both traveled to Cuba on Gross' behalf, but they were unable to secure his release.

North Korea announced Friday, June 6, that it has detained Jeffrey Edward Fowle, a U.S. citizen it says entered the country as a tourist on April 29 and broke the law. Citing unidentified diplomatic sources, the Japanese news agency Kyodo reported that Fowle was part of a tour group and that he was detained in mid-May after allegedly leaving a Bible in a hotel where he had been staying.

This undated image provided by the U.S. Army shows Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who had been held by insurgents in Afghanistan since 2009. The White House announced Bergdahl's release on May 31.

An Iranian court threw out a 2011 death sentence for Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine charged with spying. But he was secretly retried in Iran and convicted of "practical collaboration with the U.S. government," his sister told CNN on April 11. He has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, she said. Hekmati was detained in August 2011 during a visit to see his grandmother. His family and the Obama administration deny accusations he was spying for the CIA.

A North Korean court sentenced Kenneth Bae, a U.S. citizen, to 15 years of hard labor for committing "hostile acts" against the state. Those alleged acts were not detailed by the country's state-run news agency when it announced the sentence in May. Bae, here in a photo from a Facebook page titled Remember Ken Bae, was arrested in November 2012. "This was somebody who was a tour operator, who has been there in the past and has a visa to go to the North," a senior U.S. official told CNN.

Retired FBI agent Robert Levinson has been missing since 2007. His family says he was working as a private investigator in Iran when he disappeared, and multiple reports suggest Levinson may have been working for the CIA. His family told CNN in January that they have long known that Levinson worked for the CIA, and they said it's time for the government to lay out the facts about Levinson's case. U.S. officials have consistently denied publicly that Levinson was working for the government, but they have repeatedly insisted that finding him and bringing him home is a "top" priority.

Warren Weinstein, a contractor held by al Qaeda militants, is a U.S. citizen who has been held hostage in Pakistan since August 2011.

U.S. tourist and Korean War veteran Merrill Newman arrives at the Beijing airport Saturday, December 7, after being released by North Korea. Newman was detained October 26 by North Korean authorities just minutes before he was to depart the country after visiting through an organized tour. His son Jeff Newman says the Palo Alto, California, man had all the proper paperwork and set up his trip through a North Korean-approved travel agency.

Mexican authorities arrested Yanira Maldonado, a U.S. citizen, right, in May 2013, for alleged drug possession. She and her husband, Gary, were traveling from Mexico back to the United States when their bus was stopped and searched. She was released a few days later and is now back in the United States.

Saeed Abedini, a 33-year-old U.S. citizen of Iranian birth, was sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2013, accused of attempting to undermine the Iranian government and endangering national security by establishing home churches.

North Korea has arrested Americans before, only to release them after a visit by a prominent dignitary. Journalists Laura Ling, center, and Euna Lee, to her right, spent 140 days in captivity after being charged with illegal entry to conduct a smear campaign. They were freed in 2009 after a trip by former President Bill Clinton.

Former President Jimmy Carter negotiated the release of Aijalon Gomes, who was detained in 2010 after crossing into North Korea illegally from China. Analysts say high-level visits give Pyongyang a propaganda boost and a way to save face when it releases a prisoner.

Eddie Yong Su Jun was released by North Korea a month after he was detained in April 2011. His alleged crime was not provided to the media. The American delegation that secured his freedom included Robert King, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues.

Robert Park was released by North Korea in 2010 without any apparent U.S. intervention. The Christian missionary crossed into North Korea from China, carrying a letter asking Kim Jong Il to free political prisoners and resign. North Korea's state-run news agency said Park was released after an "admission and sincere repentance of his wrongdoings." Here, Park holds a photo of Kim and a malnourished child during a protest in Seoul.

Josh Fattal, center, Sarah Shourd, left, and Shane Bauer were detained by Iran while hiking near the Iraq-Iran border in July 2009. Iran charged them with illegal entry and espionage. Shourd was released on bail for medical reasons in September 2010; she never returned to face her charges. Bauer and Fattal were convicted in August 2011, but the next month they were released on bail and had their sentences commuted.

Haleh Esfandiari, an Iranian-American scholar, was also detained at Evin Prison, spending months in solitary confinement before Iran released her on bail in August 2007. Esfandiari was visiting her ailing mother in Tehran when she was arrested and charged with harming Iran's national security.

Sixteen Americans were among the dozens arrested in December 2011 when Egypt raided the offices of 10 nongovernmental organizations that it said received illegal foreign financing and were operating without a public license. Many of the employees posted bail and left the country after a travel ban was lifted a few months later. Robert Becker, right, chose to stay and stand trial.

Filmmaker Timothy Tracy was arrested in Venezuela in April on allegations of funding opponents of newly elected President Nicolas Maduro, successor to the late Hugo Chavez. Tracy went to Venezuela to make a documentary about the political division gripping the country. He was released in June.

Americans detained abroad

Photos: Americans detained abroad

Friend describes Peter Theo Curtis

Syria: A war 30 years in the making

Obama: No boots on the ground in Syria

White House national security adviser Susan Rice said Curtis was safe, no longer in Syria and expected to be reunited with his family shortly.

He was on his way to Tel Aviv, according to a senior administration official.

Nancy Curtis spoke to her son briefly by phone Sunday.

"He sounded so happy and excited to be free," she said. He told her "I can't believe they let me out."

The United States was not involved in negotiations for his release but was aware of private efforts to secure the release, two U.S. law enforcement officials said. It's not known whether any ransom was paid, the officials said.

Curtis' release comes just five days after ISIS militants released a video of one of its militants beheading American journalist James Foley.

"Particularly after a week marked by unspeakable tragedy, we are all relieved and grateful knowing that Theo Curtis is coming home after so much time held in the clutches of (al-Nusra Front)," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement.

When asked about the death of James Foley, an American journalist killed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria last week, Nancy Curtis began to weep. "I feel so bad for their family. Diane (Foley's mother) has become a good friend of mine, and I'm just so heartbroken for their loss."

Author and journalist

CNN obtained two videos that appear to have been recorded during the late stages of Curtis' captivity. In one, a gun is pointed at his head, and Curtis speaks rapidly, as if under duress.

He gives his name and the date and says he is a journalist from Boston.

Curtis is an author and freelance reporter who writes under the name Theo Padnos. He contributed articles about the Middle East to various publications, including the New Republic, The Huffington Post and the London Review of Books.

He has also published two books: "My Life Had Stood a Loaded Gun," a memoir about teaching literature to young offenders at a correctional facility in Vermont, and "Undercover Muslim: A Journey into Yemen," which investigates Islamic extremism.

He was born in Atlanta and graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont. Curtis holds a doctorate in comparative literature from the University of Massachusetts and is fluent in French and Arabic, according to a statement from his family. He also speaks German and Russian.

"Theo has a deep concern and regard for the people of Syria," his mother said, "which is why he returned during the war. He wanted to help others and to give meaning and to bear witness to their struggles.

"I am very fortunate that I do not have to tell his whole story. He eventually will be able to do so himself."

President Barack Obama has been briefed on Curtis' release and "shares in the joy and relief that we all feel now that Theo is out of Syria and safe," said White House spokesman Eric Schultz.

"But we continue to hold in our thoughts and prayers the Americans who remain in captivity in Syria -- and we will continue to use all of the tools at our disposal to see that the remaining American hostages are freed."

Former cellmate speaks

In August, CNN spoke to Curtis' former cellmate in Syria, Matthew Schrier. They were locked up together in six prisons before Schrier broke free by climbing through a window.

"I took apart the screen, pushed the sandbags aside, and I got stuck, around my waist, so I had to reach in. I unbuckled my pants, and as soon as I unbuckled my pants I shot right out," Schrier said.

Curtis wasn't as lucky. He got stuck. Schrier said he tried to get Curtis out, but he simply didn't fit, and so Schrier left, promising to get help.

"It was one of the hardest things I ever had to do," Schrier said.

"It's hard to move on, because he's still there. You know, it hasn't ended yet 100%," he said then. "I'm not going to have closure until he's home."

Fears heightened for Western hostages

Why freelance reporting is so dangerous

Foley's murder: 'A message to Britain'

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, Jim Acosta, Mary Grace Lucas, Evan Perez, Jethro Mullen, Lawrence Crook III and Deanna Hackney contributed to this report.