Two journalists from Canada and Australia have been released after 15 months of captivity in war-torn Somalia, international media reported on Thursday.
Nigel Brennan, an Australian photojournalist, and Canadian freelance reporter Amanda Lindhout were abducted by Somali militants on the outskirts of the country's capital, Mogadishu, on August 23, 2008, just three days after arriving in the country.
They were freed on Wednesday night, after being held captive for 459 days.
Lindhout told Canadian television she was isolated, beaten and tortured during her captivity.
"It was extremely oppressive. I was kept by myself at all times. I had no one to speak to. I was normally kept in a room with a light, no window. I had nothing to write on or with. There was very little food. I was allowed to use the toilet exactly five times a day," the released journalist was quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald as saying in an interview with CTV.
She said her and Brennan's families paid a ransom to the kidnappers to secure their release.
According to the Toronto Sun website, the 28-year-old journalist had been working as a TV reporter in foreign hotspots such as Africa and Iraq, when she went to Somalia to report on refugees in camps displaced by the violence.
The war-ravaged country has been without an effective government since 1991.
MOSCOW, November 26 (RIA Novosti)
