Shiraaz Mohamed, a South African photojournalist who was abducted by unknown militants in Syria’s Idlib more than three years ago, has reportedly escaped his captors.
A South African non-governmental relief organization, known as Gift of the Givers, announced the news of Shiraaz’s alleged escape early on December 15.
In an official statement, the organization said that it was contacted by an unknown source in Idlib, who claimed that Shiraaz managed to escape his captors a while ago and was able to hide with “friendly people.”
The Syrian source sent Gift of Givers photos of Shiraaz, who appeared to be in good health, and told the organization that he was handed over to the Turkish intelligence.
“We now wait for the South African government to make contact with Turkish Intelligence to bring Shiraaz home as soon as practically possible,” Gift of Givers said in its statement.
Shiraaz, 41, was abducted by unknown militants on 10 January 2017 in the town of Darkoush. Last August, the captors released a video of the journalist, in which he warned that his life will be in grave danger if the captors’ demands were not met.
While Gift of Givers said that Shiraaz escaped his captors, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) and many opposition sources said that he was released by al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS).
According to opposition sources, HTS abducted Shiraaz 3 years ago because it believed that he was spying for a “foreign intelligence” service. The terrorist groups reportedly kept the matter a secret the entire time.
The reports of Shiraaz escape or release have not been confirmed by South Africa, nor by Turkey. In the last few years, Ankara facilitated the release of several foreign captives from Idlib.
I’m wondering what he was doing there. If he indeed fled, the question is how he managed to reach Turkey.
Do a little research https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/shiraaz-mohamed-releases-new-video-proof-of-life-video/ He’s a photo journalist who went to Syria with a disaster relief foundation called Gift of the Givers http://giftofthegivers.org/disaster-relief/syria they provide medical services to poor patients, but i am sure you all suspect they are a Jihadi organisation hence why you “wonder” what he was doing there in the first place? Russia does not have a monopoly on disaster relief you know
Look he has a Jihadi beard …. ALLAHU AKBARRRRRRRRRR!!!!!
https://news365.co.za/shiraaz-mohamed-2/
He’s with Turkish intelligence not in Turkey.
Who was that guy here yesterday who posted Mohammed (P.B.U.H) was a paedo and so many here liked his comment but it got deleted?
I don’t remember a comment where someone told this.
Normally I’d say anything coming from the SOHR is nothing but a lie, but this time I won’t, I actually think this is exactly what happened,
“While Gift of Givers said that Shiraaz escaped his captors, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) and many opposition sources said that he was released by al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)”.
A gift from HTS to Erdogan, “Here you go boss, will this one help the cause”, “Yes he will, releasing him now will help our cause for sure”, “Well what about all these other ones president Erdogan, do you want them too, we have hundreds more out the back,” “No not just yet, we’ll save them for later, as a matter of fact, go out and round up some more, we may need them too.”