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Johnston to reveal hostage ordeal

Alan Johnston, the BBC reporter who was held hostage for four months in Gaza, is to tell the story of his ordeal in a special hour-long edition of Panorama.

It will be the first time the former Gaza correspondent for the BBC speaks about being seized and locked up by militants since he was freed on July 4, 2007

The programme will feature reports from the Middle East, the US and the UK as well as interviews with the groups involved in efforts to free the 45-year-old.

He spent 114 days in captivity after being abducted at gunpoint by militants on March 12, 2007 as he returned from the Erez Crossing between the Gaza Strip and Israel.

Although the BBC reportedly says Johnston will not return to Gaza for the two-part programme, most of the major players who secured his release will be featured.

The programme will also give the journalist an opportunity to talk about his ordeal using his own words, with questions to come from the BBC’s Jeremy Vine.

On the same day, October 25, Johnston will front a special edition of Radio 4’s From Our Own Correspondent to reveal more about his time in captivity.

Separately, The Guardian has reported he will return to the BBC for full-time work in the new year, though his new job has not been announced.

This week, the paper obtained a letter of support he authored to al-Jazeera cameraman Sami Al-Haj, who has been held in Guantanamo Bay, without trial, since June 2002.

Al-Haj, a Sudanese national, joined the campaign to free Johnston despite being incarcerated at the base for reasons the US government has not declared.

Oct 5, 2007
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