During the 1980’s and “90″s a number of western citizens were kidnapped while working in the Lebanese city of Beirut, one of the men responsible for securing the release of many of these was also held hostage, he was held for over four years.
On November 18 1991 special envoy to the British Archbishop of Canterbury Terry Waite was freed by his kidnappers after being held hostage for more than four years. He was freed with American teacher Thomas Sutherland after negotiations by the United Nations to release them from their Shiite Muslim kidnappers in Lebanon.
Before his being captured himself Terry waiter had worked extensively in securing the release of missionaries held in Iran, British hostages from Libya as well as Americans held in Lebanon in 1986. He had successfully secured the release of 10 people held captive before he was seized during a return to Beirut to assist in another release. On January 20th 1987 Terry Waite became the highly prized captive of the kidnappers.
During his time in captivity he was blindfolded, beaten regularly and even subjected to mock executions. Throughout much of his captivity he was chained to a radiator and whenever he was moved to a new location he was concealed inside a giant refrigerator to avoid being detected.
After his release he stated that his captors had apologized to him for taking him in that way and to the treatment he had received. After he was freed there were another five western hostages in Beirut, three Americans and two Germans. The Americans were released a month after Terry Waite and the Germans safely set free in June of 1992.
During the Lebanon hostage crisis which ran for approximately ten years from 1982 until its conclusion in 1992 there were 96 people taken hostage. They were mostly from western countries and were mainly in the positions of journalists, diplomatic staff or teachers. At least 10 died in captivity, some of these were murdered by their captors, others died from illnesses not adequately treated while being held captive.
At first the taking of hostages was as an insurance against any retaliation towards Hezbollah. Over 300 were killed in bombings on an American Marine barracks and the US Embassy in Beirut, Hezbollah was thought to be responsible for these bombings. Iran and Syria were both believed to also be behind some of the kidnappings.
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