Canadian journalist who was tortured and raped after being kidnapped in Somalia opens up

A Canadian journalist who was kidnapped, tortured and raped over the course of 15 months in war-torn Somalia has revealed the details of her horrific ordeal.

Amanda Lindhout was just 26 when she travelled to the volatile east African nation’s capital of Mogadishu in 2008 alongside 36-year-old Australian photographer Nigel Brennan.

On August 23rd, their third day in the country, the pair were kidnapped.

‘We were going to an internally displaced people’s camp. That was going to be the big story that we were in Somalia for,’ Lindhout recounted in Andrew Denton’s Interview on Channel Seven.  

‘We’re on a big open highway road and we see a car pulled over off to the side up ahead. Within minutes what unfolded was like something out of a nightmare.

‘There were about a dozen armed men who had been hiding behind that parked car. And the next thing I knew I had been abducted.’

 

Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout (pictured) who was kidnapped, tortured and raped over the course of 15 months in war-torn Somalia has revealed the details of her horrific ordeal

Lindhout (left) was just 26 when she travelled to the volatile east African nation's capital of Mogadishu in 2008 alongside 36-year-old Australian photographer Nigel Brennan (right)

Lindhout (left) was just 26 when she travelled to the volatile east African nation’s capital of Mogadishu in 2008 alongside 36-year-old Australian photographer Nigel Brennan (right)

The abductors called both Lindhout and Brennan’s families and demanded $1.5million USD ransom in exchange for each of their lives. 

For the 15 months that followed the pair remained hostage to their captors – who beat them, starved them and repeatedly sexually assaulted Lindhout.

After four months, in the middle of the night, the aspiring journalist was strong-armed into a car and driven out into the centre of the desert.  

‘They took me out of the car under this tree, pulled my head back, and the next thing I knew there was a knife at my throat,’ she recalled.

‘One of them was telling me that they were going to give me 30 seconds to convince my mother to pay the money within seven days or they were going to behead me.’

The pair were kidnapped on their third day in the country, and for the 15 months that followed remained hostage to their captors - who beat them, starved them and repeatedly sexually assaulted Lindhout (stock image)

The pair were kidnapped on their third day in the country, and for the 15 months that followed remained hostage to their captors – who beat them, starved them and repeatedly sexually assaulted Lindhout (stock image)

Then, after five months, Lindhout and Brennan attempted their escape. 

The pair managed to loosen several bricks and jump out of a window before fleeing to a nearby crowded mosque – only to be pursued by their armed captors.

As the Somali kidnappers entered the building behind them, Lindhout recounts a surreal story of a woman, clothed head-to-toe in a full Islamic hijab, stepping forward to embrace her.  

‘She pulled me into her arms and in English she called me her sister,’ Lindhout said. ‘And then she turns to our kidnappers begging them to let us go.

‘[But] the next thing I knew one of them had grabbed me around my ankles and was dragging be my feet across the floor of the mosque. I was being taken to the door where the truck was parked… [and] they brought Nigel out in the same way.’ 

Emotionally, Lindhout revealed that ‘as we drove off there was a gunshot inside the mosque and I still don’t know what happened to that amazing woman.’ 

'We were going to an internally displaced people's camp. That was going to be the big story that we were in Somalia for,' recounted Lindhout, who had travelled to war-torn Mogadishu (pictured) for a story

‘We were going to an internally displaced people’s camp. That was going to be the big story that we were in Somalia for,’ recounted Lindhout, who had travelled to war-torn Mogadishu (pictured) for a story

Lindhout )pictured) endured a failed escape attempt, horrific torture and sexual assault, and at least one dark moments when she considered taking her own life

Lindhout )pictured) endured a failed escape attempt, horrific torture and sexual assault, and at least one dark moments when she considered taking her own life

She also goes on to recall the ‘punishment’ she received as a result of her failed escape attempt.

Locked in a pitch black room, the sexual assault to which she had thus far been subjected suddenly escalated in both frequency and intensity.

And 13 months into what she now describes quite literally as ‘hell’, Lindhout considered suicide.

Following three days of horrific torture, she reportedly came to the ‘calm decision’ that she was going to use a small razor that had been provided to her to take her own life – but not before one final night to reflect on her life and loved ones. 

‘I was really getting close to making this decision,’ she recalled. ‘[And] as the morning sun was coming up… a little bit of movement caught my eye… and there was a bird hopping around in this little bit of light.’   

‘I’d always believed in signs a messenger, in a way, to hold on,’ she declared. ‘And that bird was a messenger.

‘The desire to end my life left me and it never came back and this amazing feeling just flooded through my body, which was determination to survive no matter what; that I would have my freedom again; I would see my family.’  

Then, one morning, Lindhout (pictured) saw a small bird that she considered to be a messenger of hope

Finally, 460 days after being captured, Lindhout and Brennan (pictured) were set free

Finally, 460 days after being captured, Lindhout (left) and Brennan (right) were set free

Finally, 460 days after being captured, Lindhout and Brennan were set free.

A small handful of men entered the room where Lindhout was being kept and sawed off the chains that had been clapped around her ankles for the previous ten-and-a-half months.

Moments later, she and Brennan were carried out into a waiting vehicle and driven several hours to another location – all the while still believing that they were merely entering another phase of their imprisonment.

It was only after they were surrounded by 40 armed Somali men and approached by a man presenting a cell phone that the reality of their rescue became clear.  

‘I’m totally confused and I put it to my ear and my mum’s on the other end and she says to me, “Amanda, you’re free,”‘ Lindhout recounted.

‘And all of these people had been organised by our families to get us out of Somalia… a ransom had been paid, and we came to understand all the ways that our freedom had come to be and the incredible sacrifices that people had made.’

Now, Lindhout (pictured) finds immeasurable value in those simple pleasures she'd previously taken for granted: 'The ability to move my body... the freedom to use the toilet when I wanted to... to be able to see the sky again'

Now, Lindhout (pictured) finds immeasurable value in those simple pleasures she’d previously taken for granted: ‘The ability to move my body… the freedom to use the toilet when I wanted to… to be able to see the sky again’

Now, nearly nine years later, Lindhout finds immeasurable value in those simple pleasures she’d previously taken for granted.

‘The ability to move my body… the freedom to use the toilet when I wanted to… to be able to see the sky again,’ she said.

‘Just to be able to see the sky again, that’s over our head every day. I had never really looked up and really appreciated it until after my freedom.’

In early 2018, the man who had orchestrated the kidnapping and the ransom was sentenced to 15 years’ jail in Lindhout’s home country of Canada – and Lindhout was called upon to testify in front of him.

She described both her testimony and the victim impact statement that went with it as an ‘extremely difficult’ process, albeit one that came with ‘huge pieces of closure and healing’.

The now 36-year-old also reflects that she feels ‘lighter’ for it: ‘I feel like I have let go of something.’

Lindhout (right) appeared on Andrew Denton's (left) Interview program to retell her horrific story

Lindhout (right) appeared on Andrew Denton’s (left) Interview program to retell her horrific story

And for all her lingering fears and anxieties, one thing that doesn’t scare Lindhout is the prospect of forever being a victim to her past – or the idea that mankind lacks decency.  

I absolutely believe in the goodness of humankind,’ she declares.

‘It’d be easy to watch the news and think that the world is mostly bad people doing terrible things and it’s just absolutely not true. That is a small handful of people who, themselves, carry a great deal of pain that leads them to hurt other people.

‘But actually, our world is just full of such kindness and goodness and compassion and I certainly experience that every day.’

 



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