Three journalists return to Spain after Syria kidnapping

Three Spanish journalists taken hostage in Syria by an Al Qaeda-linked group returned today to Madrid where they were welcomed by overjoyed family members after nearly a year in captivity.

Antonio Pampliega, Jose Manuel Lopez and Angel Sastre were flown on a Spanish defence ministry jet from Turkey to Torrejon air base near Madrid where they were greeted by Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria.

The three men smiled as they descended from the plane as officials held up umbrellas to shield them from driving rain, according to a video released by the government.

Pampliega kissed his sister Alejandra on the forehead and gave her a hug after she ran to greet him.

“Crying from joy falls short,” she said on Twitter yesterday when the news broke that the three experienced conflict zone reporters had been released and were in good health.

Pampliega’s mother Maria del Mar Rodriguez Vega said she planned to cook her son’s favourite dish to celebrate his return - spinach with bechamel sauce.

“It was wonderful when I spoke to him by telephone,” she said in a statement released by the Spanish branch of media rights group Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF.

“He had the same voice as always, from when he was a child, he repeatedly asked me to forgive me for what he made me go through.”

The three journalists were kidnapped by armed men on July 13 while they travelling together in a small van in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo where they had been reporting on fighting for various Spanish media. They were held by Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, the Al-Nusra Front, government sources told AFP.

The trio appear to have been treated better than three other Spanish journalists who were released in March 2014 after being held for six months in Syria by the Islamic State group, Al-Nusra’s rival which has executed many of its hostages, the sources added.

The release was “possible thanks to the collaboration of allies and friends especially in the final phase from Turkey and Qatar”, the government said yesterday, without giving further details.