WEBVTT

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I always wanted to travel
and see the world.

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Barcelona was too small for me.

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I felt like I was suffocating;
my wings were clipped.

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I studied journalism.

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The idea was to be a
war zone correspondent.

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Especially war zones
in the Muslim world.

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When the first Arab war broke out,

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I covered the revolution in Tunisia
and the war in Libya.

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And lastly, when the revolution
in Syria began,

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I travelled there twice in 2012
and for a third time in 2013.

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Things didn’t work out the way
I expected during that trip.

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The situation in the country
was changing rapidly.

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I was about to have
the experience of a lifetime.

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One I will never forget.

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MARC MARGINEDAS, KIDNAPPED

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“Special correspondent in Syria
held captive since 4 September”

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Working as a correspondent
in Russia for me means

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still working in the same field
of journalism

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as I was before the kidnapping.

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Russia is a country
involved in Syria’s war.

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And that is why I went there.

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There are three or four subjects
we need to touch on.

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And apart from that, I have interviews
that might be interesting.

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Do you think that Putin or the network
of hackers played a role?

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Original music
Enric Teruel

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“A total of 15 Russian mercenaries
died last week in Syria”

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Since my release,

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I thought about returning there,
but it was inconceivable.

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While the Islamic State was there,

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I risked being kidnapped again.

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Now that ISIS
has been defeated,

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going back to Syria

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and revisiting places
where I was kidnapped

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would be like getting closure
for this chapter of my life.

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From a young age, he always had

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different hobbies and interests
from his other siblings.

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We all chose degrees
that allowed us to get ahead.

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He studied what he liked.

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He didn’t care whether
he could make a living or not.

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We didn’t understand him.

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I’m from quite a well-off family.

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I always felt that I didn’t fit in.

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I didn’t choose my career
because of the salary,

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but because I’ve always sought
to do what I enjoy.

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My family has always viewed
me as a bit of a weirdo.

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He began covering war zones,

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and nobody understood
that desire to head out

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to places where he was uncomfortable
and in danger.

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We didn’t get it.

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I really don’t think
that any of us were aware

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of the scope of his profession
until the kidnapping.

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I don’t regret anything,
and I believe that in life

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you do things because you feel
you have to.

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When the war in Syria began,
I always felt the need to go there

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and show, above all,
how civilians were suffering.

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It was summer 2013.

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There had been a significant
chemical weapon attack

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by the Syrian regime against
the Syrian civilian population.

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Marc suggested we should go to Syria

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to see what the chemical attack
was about.

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This was to be his third trip
to Syria.

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He had the support
of the Syrian opposition

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to enter the country.

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I reached southern Turkey,

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I was picked up by a brigade
of Syrian fighters

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who planned to enter Syria again
the following day

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through a hole in the fence.

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As soon as we crossed,
we stopped a van

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and that was when I thought:
“I’m risking my life.”

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I didn’t feel the mutual understanding
I had felt on other trips.

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The war had been underway
for more than two years.

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I think the rebels had realised that

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the presence of journalists
would not change their fortune.

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Two days after crossing over
into Syria,

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two people came along

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to give a talk to the rebel fighters
who were with me.

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From what little I understood
in Arabic,

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I realised that this man
was a jihadist.

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When the talk was over,
he realised who I was

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and demanded I go with him.

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I begged him not to force me.

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When I reached the jihadist camp,

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I realised it was out of my hands.

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I spoke to one of them

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who seemed to be
their commander or leader.

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The first thing he said was:
“Don’t worry.

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You’re not a hostage; you’re a guest.

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Look at what we do to prisoners.”

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When you’ve been kidnapped,
there’s a certain degree of denial.

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You always think:
“Maybe they’ll release me.”

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You try to think positively.

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I think it’s a human mechanism
to defend yourself

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and face a situation in which

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your destiny is out of your hands
and doesn’t depend on you.

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The next day, I tried to explain

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to one of the leaders
that I was not a spy.

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Talk to the Free Syrian Army people.

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He said something to me
that I’ll never forget:

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“You came here twice before
and got away with it,

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but now we’re going to kill you.”

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Albert Guasch,

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head of the international section,
said to me

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that Marc was meant to send
a story the night before,

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which he didn’t, and his last contact
with him was an exchange of emails

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that midday.

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I called Ramón Lobo, a colleague,
and said:

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“I need to contact a journalist
who knows Syria.”

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He gave me
Mónica García Prieto’s details.

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At that time her partner,
Javier Espinosa,

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was in Iraq.

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A day went by and on Friday night

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I remember that Mónica called me
and said:

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“I have some good news
and some bad news.

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The good news is that Marc is alive;
they’ve located him.

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The bad news is that he’s been abducted.”

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They transferred me to the hospital
in Aleppo,

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which had been turned into
an ISIS prison

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in northern Syria.

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Sporadic, isolated gunfire
could be heard there.

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I didn’t process it at the time,

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but those shots were actually
prisoners being executed.

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One night they took me
to the interrogation room.

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They took off my blindfold,
and one of the guards

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pointed a gun at me
in order to really scare me.

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I never actually took that
as a serious threat.

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Because if you’ve spent
several weeks there,

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a place where people are tortured
all the time and you’ve been spared,

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if you use a bit of logic,

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you realise they’ve received orders
not to hurt you.

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About 20 days later,

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we found out via other colleagues

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that Javier and Ricardo
had also been kidnapped.

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It was clear that the situation
was completely out of control.

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As soon as you entered.

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There were lots of checkpoints
with the ISIS flag.

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You could see that it was
quite a dangerous situation.

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We got it wrong

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and paid the price.

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When we realised
that there was no quick fix,

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the kidnapping would be long-term,
we decided

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to make Marc’s kidnapping public

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and published an article about
it in “El Periódico.”

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SYRIAN REBELS ABDUCT
SPANISH JOURNALIST

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WAVE OF SOLIDARITY FOR MARGINEDAS

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The editorial office

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organised weekly mobilisations

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demanding his release,
knowing that it would do no good,

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that his kidnappers
would not be moved by this.

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But it was a way to demonstrate
and not feel alone,

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a way to be there for his family
when we could do nothing else.

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MARC, WE’RE WAITING FOR YOU

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The Spanish journalist,
Marc Marginedas,

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special correspondent for
“El Periódico de Catalunya,”

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has been abducted in Syria
by a rebel group…

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It was important to publish the story

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and prove the fact

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that he was not a Western spy,

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that he was a journalist,
and to explain his career.

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This person, this journalist,
is being held prisoner

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by an Islamic organisation
with ties to Al Qaeda.

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From previous experience
with Al Qaeda kidnappings,

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it was known that hostages
are usually fed well

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and that they are treated

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as “humanely” as possible.

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So initially we were glad
it was Al Qaeda. It sounds crazy.

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Then, when the Islamic State,

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when Al Qaeda,
distanced itself from ISIS,

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that was when we got worried again.

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They distanced themselves
because ISIS was quite anarchic,

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more powerful
and slightly more reckless.

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This was when the Islamic State
was growing,

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and Raqqa had become its fiefdom.

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When you heard about the atrocities
being committed by ISIS you said:

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“God, in whose hands is Marc?

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How awful! What will they do to him
and the others?

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How are they being treated?”

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They sowed corruption in this land.
They stole and plundered

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and murdered with their weapons.

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When ISIS had to retreat
from that prison,

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all of the inmates imprisoned
there at the time

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were executed.

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And after interrogating them,

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the Islamic State court,

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representing the Islamic State
of Iraq and al-Sham, passes sentence.

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God is great! God is great!

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Syrian Democratic Forces

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They took me from the eye clinic,

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the prison where I had been,

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and took me to a derelict building
on the outskirts of Aleppo.

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They opened a cell door

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and when they shut it,
I took off my blindfold.

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I saw all my colleagues
who had gone missing

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in the previous months.

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There was the American,
Steven Sotloff,

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a Danish guy,

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a Brit, four French guys,
and a few days later

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we joined James Foley
and John Cantlie.

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That was when Didier turned up.

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He was the one who explained to me
how many people there were,

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that Marc was in the cell next door,

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how long they had been kidnapped,

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and that they had brought us
all together there.

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I remember that the person
who brought us food

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said to me:

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“Ricardo and Javier send you regards
from the other cell.”

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Ricardo was a photographer I knew

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from Libya and other scenarios.

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And I had covered many stories

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with Javier,
from Iraq through to Lebanon.

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When they put us together,
and we took off our blindfolds,

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I hugged Ricardo and Javier.

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From then on,
the kidnapping changed for me.

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The problem was that the first stage
had really affected Marc.

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It had taken its toll physically.
He had lost a lot of weight.

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He had diarrhoea
because he couldn’t tolerate the food.

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So…

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I thought that he looked
in bad shape, quite affected.

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Real hunger
is when you never stop thinking

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about food at any point
during the day.

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To amuse ourselves, literally,

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or to avoid thinking about it,
we explained what we would eat

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when we got out of that place.

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When you feel real hunger,
you don’t just lose weight,

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you feel like your body
is eating itself up.

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Your body is devouring itself

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in order to maintain vital functions.

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When he was first kidnapped, I wrote
a heartfelt letter to my brother.

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I’m a practicing Catholic,
a deeply religious person.

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There were several very profound
religious reflections.

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My brother never got the letter,
but the kidnappers did read it.

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On 17 November,
I got an email from the kidnappers

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saying that they were with Marcos,

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and he was being held prisoner.

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I replied to the email.

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We thanked them for saying
that Marcos was okay,

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but that we needed to be sure

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he was all right, and that
they should send us a video.

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We received proof
that he was alive later on.

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I don’t remember exactly
if it was in late November.

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When I saw the video,
I was really shocked.

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He looked dreadful.

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Food was scarce in Aleppo,

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but the living conditions
were more bearable.

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We got to play chess

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with cardboard figures we had made.

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We even held yoga sessions.

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All of that changed the minute

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the British kidnappers,
the so-called “Beatles,”

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took charge of our captivity.

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The Italian guy, David Haynes.
John, James.

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They talked to us

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about a time they had spent

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with extremely violent, harsh guards.

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The country is completely destroyed.

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There are several thousand people
living in refugee camps

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because their houses
have been destroyed.

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In many cases, this was done
by the Coalition

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that ousted the Islamic State.

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Are you the Imam?

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Yes, the Imam here in the camp.

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How many Muslims are there here?

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-Are they all Muslims?
-Yes.

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-How many?
-Over 10,000.

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The Daesh soldiers said to me:

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“We are the best Muslims
in the world.”

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What do you think?

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If a person believes
that his religion is the best,

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I embrace him, that is acceptable.

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But to look down on the rest
is not acceptable.

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Of course,

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Islam is not terrorism.

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Muslims are like the rest
of humankind.

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Muslims have ethics.

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They have morals.

00:26:41.279 --> 00:26:42.880
We make mistakes.

00:26:43.519 --> 00:26:45.240
We have our problems,

00:26:45.599 --> 00:26:47.079
but we have piety.

00:26:47.240 --> 00:26:50.440
I was in prison

00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:53.880
with a group of 19 hostages.

00:26:54.039 --> 00:26:55.680
Where is the piety?

00:26:55.839 --> 00:26:57.759
We Muslims do not believe

00:26:57.920 --> 00:26:59.680
that one group makes Islam.

00:26:59.839 --> 00:27:02.400
Islam is Islam and the group has

00:27:02.559 --> 00:27:04.920
particular ethics that identify it.

00:27:05.480 --> 00:27:07.559
They are not the ethics of Islam.

00:27:07.720 --> 00:27:09.759
Are there not certain factions

00:27:09.920 --> 00:27:12.359
or some terrorist groups
among Christians?

00:27:12.519 --> 00:27:13.680
Does that mean

00:27:13.839 --> 00:27:15.599
all Christians are terrorists?

00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:19.880
But on the subject of Daesh,

00:27:20.599 --> 00:27:22.440
we don’t understand it very well.

00:27:22.599 --> 00:27:26.400
We don’t know where these men
came from or where they have gone.

00:27:48.880 --> 00:27:51.200
-Salaam-alaikom.
-Salaam-alaikom.

00:27:52.119 --> 00:27:54.200
My name is Marc. I’m from Spain.

00:27:54.359 --> 00:27:56.039
How long have you been at this camp?

00:27:56.200 --> 00:27:58.599
Since the camp was set up.

00:28:00.359 --> 00:28:01.720
Two years and three months.

00:28:01.880 --> 00:28:03.160
Why did you come here?

00:28:03.319 --> 00:28:05.799
They destroyed my house.
There was fighting,

00:28:05.960 --> 00:28:08.200
and it was demolished
like many others.

00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:11.519
What do you think
of the International Coalition?

00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:14.119
Did they bomb your house?

00:28:14.279 --> 00:28:16.839
They did,
but they freed us from Daesh.

00:28:17.000 --> 00:28:20.319
I don’t feel sorry about my house
because they freed us from Daesh.

00:28:20.480 --> 00:28:22.960
Tell me what the situation
was like there.

00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:25.079
-It was terrible.
-Why?

00:28:26.559 --> 00:28:29.720
We were really pressured by Daesh
in the end.

00:28:29.880 --> 00:28:31.519
Especially the women.

00:28:31.680 --> 00:28:35.279
We couldn’t leave the house.

00:28:35.440 --> 00:28:38.240
They even looked for excuses
to take away the men.

00:28:39.799 --> 00:28:41.680
If we left the house, they’d catch us.

00:28:41.920 --> 00:28:43.440
I have a daughter.

00:28:43.599 --> 00:28:45.200
I feared for her

00:28:45.359 --> 00:28:46.680
and left.

00:28:47.279 --> 00:28:49.279
They flogged, stabbed, killed.

00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:55.119
We were scared. We were so scared.

00:29:07.920 --> 00:29:10.400
Allah is the greatest.
This is a fair trial.

00:29:13.319 --> 00:29:14.960
Sister, repent before God.

00:29:16.279 --> 00:29:20.279
Brothers,
it has been indisputably proven,

00:29:20.400 --> 00:29:24.400
according to the current law,
that this woman, God forgive her,

00:29:24.839 --> 00:29:30.000
was a degenerate and practiced
prostitution, which God forbids.

00:29:30.559 --> 00:29:34.960
We ask you, O God,
please spare all Muslims our honour,

00:29:35.119 --> 00:29:37.960
and forgive this woman,
be merciful to her,

00:29:37.960 --> 00:29:41.960
condemn her for her wrongs,
and transform her in this world

00:29:42.319 --> 00:29:45.119
that she can find God
and please Him.

00:29:45.240 --> 00:29:48.240
Let us pray for God and Mohammed,
her friends and her family.

00:29:48.559 --> 00:29:49.559
Allah is the greatest!

00:29:49.920 --> 00:29:52.920
Allah is the greatest!

00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:07.720
Our captivity is nothing compared
to how these people suffer.

00:30:09.880 --> 00:30:13.920
We’ve become the main players
in a story

00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:17.759
that doesn\'t actually belong to us.

00:30:19.400 --> 00:30:22.799
What is my situation compared
to the lives of these people

00:30:22.960 --> 00:30:25.279
who have lost absolutely everything?

00:30:38.039 --> 00:30:42.119
In late 2013,
they transferred us to a house.

00:30:42.680 --> 00:30:44.880
And that house would become

00:30:45.039 --> 00:30:49.240
a Guantánamo, where we prisoners
would be treated the same way

00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:53.119
as the jihadist prisoners
at the Cuban base.

00:31:00.519 --> 00:31:03.079
First, they made us take off
our clothes

00:31:03.240 --> 00:31:06.480
and gave us orange jumpsuits,

00:31:06.640 --> 00:31:09.519
like the ones in Guantánamo.
Then they gave us numbers.

00:31:10.279 --> 00:31:12.000
I was given number 43.

00:31:12.160 --> 00:31:14.519
From then on, you had no name.

00:31:14.680 --> 00:31:18.519
You couldn’t say you were Spanish,
French or anything. Just 43.

00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:37.799
They began recording videos,
carrying out fake executions.

00:31:38.279 --> 00:31:42.559
They faked executions, pointing
a gun at your head,

00:31:43.400 --> 00:31:45.640
or placing a knife at your neck.

00:31:46.200 --> 00:31:50.680
Didier said they had been deprived
of water for three days

00:31:51.119 --> 00:31:53.119
and started to become delirious.

00:31:53.279 --> 00:31:57.119
The most you can survive
without water is three days.

00:31:57.279 --> 00:31:59.480
They were on the verge of dying.

00:31:59.640 --> 00:32:02.039
They were terribly cruel.
They got a kick out of it.

00:32:02.200 --> 00:32:04.920
George especially really enjoyed
being cruel.

00:32:08.720 --> 00:32:10.440
Everyone knew him as Jihadi John,

00:32:10.599 --> 00:32:14.240
but we called him George.
He was easily the worst.

00:32:14.400 --> 00:32:18.160
He was pure evil.
He was an individual who enjoyed

00:32:18.680 --> 00:32:20.519
seeing others suffer.

00:32:29.880 --> 00:32:33.559
John Cantlie told me
that he had seen George arrive

00:32:33.720 --> 00:32:37.200
in Syria and begin his mission.

00:32:38.200 --> 00:32:43.359
At that time, he appeared to be
a shy young man.

00:32:43.519 --> 00:32:46.599
Not a bit like the psychopath

00:32:46.759 --> 00:32:49.559
that we encountered.

00:32:50.799 --> 00:32:52.240
It’s puzzling.

00:35:31.440 --> 00:35:35.360
...to educate the children properly
in order to build up a generation.

00:35:37.000 --> 00:35:41.480
We have brothers from Bangladesh,
from Iraq, from Cambodia...

00:35:42.760 --> 00:35:45.679
From the French brothers who have immigrated.

00:35:54.199 --> 00:35:59.159
In a kidnapping scenario,
unexpected things can happen.

00:35:59.320 --> 00:36:05.079
I developed a relationship of empathy,
even friendliness,

00:36:05.239 --> 00:36:06.639
with one of them.

00:36:07.440 --> 00:36:10.159
His name was Najim Laachraoui.
He was Belgian,

00:36:10.320 --> 00:36:14.239
and he was surprisingly fond of me.

00:36:15.199 --> 00:36:20.280
He differed from the psychopathic
individuals who served in ISIS.

00:36:20.440 --> 00:36:22.800
He didn’t enjoy
watching others suffer.

00:36:22.960 --> 00:36:28.519
He was a person
who could even feel pity for us.

00:36:34.920 --> 00:36:37.639
And none of us could imagine

00:36:37.800 --> 00:36:40.920
the atrocity that he would commit
a few years later.

00:37:09.360 --> 00:37:13.760
I am yearning for freedom...

00:37:19.400 --> 00:37:21.800
Stay with the children.

00:37:22.000 --> 00:37:24.000
Come on, help them!

00:37:24.079 --> 00:37:25.559
This woman is wounded!

00:37:26.039 --> 00:37:29.920
When Aleppo began to be heavily bombed
in January

00:37:30.079 --> 00:37:32.000
and the news reported

00:37:32.159 --> 00:37:35.119
on the bomb attacks against ISIS

00:37:35.280 --> 00:37:38.280
in the area where Marcos was,
you’re filled with anxiety.

00:37:38.440 --> 00:37:42.920
It was also a time
when you couldn’t talk

00:37:43.079 --> 00:37:45.119
with the kidnappers;
there was silence.

00:37:45.280 --> 00:37:49.480
They weren’t in a situation
where talks were a priority.

00:37:49.639 --> 00:37:52.480
And so you thought:
“He\'s in the hands of a group

00:37:52.639 --> 00:37:55.559
that is being attacked;
they’re at war.”

00:37:56.440 --> 00:38:02.239
Yes, something could happen to him.
You didn’t want to think about it.

00:38:02.400 --> 00:38:04.360
That possibility was there.

00:38:13.440 --> 00:38:15.440
The war began
with the Free Syrian Army,

00:38:15.719 --> 00:38:17.760
and the area had to be evacuated.

00:38:18.480 --> 00:38:21.760
So we were rushed out of there
in a huge convoy

00:38:21.920 --> 00:38:26.559
that consisted of dozens and dozens
of cars and trucks.

00:38:26.719 --> 00:38:29.159
Everybody left: families,
ISIS militants,

00:38:29.320 --> 00:38:31.800
and all the logistics
they could transport.

00:38:33.119 --> 00:38:36.280
All of us hostages
were bundled into a truck

00:38:36.440 --> 00:38:40.559
with a guy who we already knew
from “Guantánamo”

00:38:40.719 --> 00:38:43.800
who was wearing a suicide vest.

00:38:43.960 --> 00:38:47.119
If we tried to escape, he had orders

00:38:47.280 --> 00:38:50.000
to blow up the truck,
which was full of explosives.

00:38:57.400 --> 00:39:00.719
The transfer to Raqqa was critical.

00:39:03.239 --> 00:39:07.679
They put me in a pickup truck,
handcuffed me to a French journalist

00:39:07.840 --> 00:39:11.119
like an object,
and covered my head with a blanket.

00:39:13.199 --> 00:39:16.360
We spent several days
roaming around the desert.

00:39:18.239 --> 00:39:20.960
We didn’t get a bite to eat
that whole time.

00:39:47.079 --> 00:39:50.079
How many years has it been
since Daesh left?

00:39:51.719 --> 00:39:56.159
Nobody seems to have taken rebuilding
this place seriously.

00:39:59.920 --> 00:40:02.280
It’s as if the war ended yesterday.

00:40:51.400 --> 00:40:53.000
All of this is my house.

00:40:53.159 --> 00:40:54.760
It all disappeared.

00:40:56.719 --> 00:40:58.760
All this was destroyed
by the Coalition?

00:40:58.920 --> 00:41:02.760
All of this was destroyed
by the Coalition and Daesh.

00:41:03.159 --> 00:41:05.360
They launched artillery shells

00:41:05.519 --> 00:41:09.039
supposedly to bomb Daesh,
but they bombed us civilians.

00:41:09.920 --> 00:41:11.960
They bombed the hospital.

00:41:12.719 --> 00:41:14.920
My neighbour’s house was destroyed.

00:41:15.079 --> 00:41:17.400
We were still at home.
We all had to leave.

00:41:17.559 --> 00:41:20.639
We fled here and headed
for the river and crossed it.

00:41:20.800 --> 00:41:23.760
ISIS kept on shooting at us
with rifles.

00:41:24.639 --> 00:41:27.760
We managed to escape.
We fled through the streets.

00:41:27.920 --> 00:41:30.280
There were many dead people
on the ground.

00:41:30.440 --> 00:41:31.960
They had planted mines.

00:41:32.119 --> 00:41:36.519
Depending on your luck,
it either exploded or you survived.

00:41:38.880 --> 00:41:42.119
The Coalition razed the city and left.

00:41:45.280 --> 00:41:48.920
What was your relationship like
with the Muslims of Daesh?

00:41:49.360 --> 00:41:53.440
They just wanted to argue with you
and get you in trouble.

00:41:53.599 --> 00:41:56.880
Either they killed you
or threw you in jail.

00:41:57.039 --> 00:41:59.840
At the market
you could see them bringing

00:41:59.920 --> 00:42:02.559
ten or fifteen people to flog or beat.

00:42:03.440 --> 00:42:04.880
Beatings, floggings.

00:42:05.400 --> 00:42:08.519
We saw how they cut people,
how they killed people.

00:42:18.719 --> 00:42:22.119
-How much are the peas today, chief?
-Five.

00:42:29.840 --> 00:42:33.480
When you share such a tiny space
with 20 people,

00:42:33.639 --> 00:42:35.599
it’s quite normal

00:42:35.760 --> 00:42:39.719
to get on well with some
and not so well with others.

00:42:39.880 --> 00:42:42.880
James Foley was somebody
that everyone liked.

00:42:43.039 --> 00:42:46.119
He was a quite a simple,
unassuming guy.

00:42:48.599 --> 00:42:52.000
A lot of us believed
that we had high-powered careers

00:42:52.159 --> 00:42:55.599
in the world of journalism or NGOs.

00:42:56.280 --> 00:43:00.199
He didn’t take part
in that vanity trip.

00:43:06.480 --> 00:43:10.760
Foley was so full of life,
even when he had been severely tortured.

00:43:10.920 --> 00:43:13.119
He had tons of stamina.

00:43:13.280 --> 00:43:18.519
And above all, he’s one of the few,
if not the only one,

00:43:19.280 --> 00:43:22.719
who didn’t lose his humanity
and showed his solidarity.

00:43:24.440 --> 00:43:27.599
All of us, including myself,
had moments of selfishness.

00:43:27.760 --> 00:43:31.000
“This egg is mine,
the others can figure it out.”

00:43:32.079 --> 00:43:36.239
There were those who said that
every day without any hesitation.

00:43:36.400 --> 00:43:39.079
Because in drastic situations,

00:43:39.559 --> 00:43:43.159
people might think it makes you
more caring, but no.

00:43:43.320 --> 00:43:44.559
What it does

00:43:44.719 --> 00:43:47.760
is appeal to the most basic
survival instinct:

00:43:48.360 --> 00:43:51.599
“I want to live,”
and so you only think of yourself.

00:43:52.880 --> 00:43:56.679
But not James; he was a guy who
still kept intact that idea of:

00:43:56.840 --> 00:44:00.400
“I’ll share. How are you?”

00:44:00.920 --> 00:44:03.599
His humanity was amazing.

00:44:11.400 --> 00:44:15.320
Besides the Spaniards,
my best friend was Steven Sotloff.

00:44:15.480 --> 00:44:18.280
Steven Sotloff
was a superb journalist.

00:44:19.119 --> 00:44:23.280
And I think that he was the bravest
one of us there.

00:44:23.440 --> 00:44:26.199
Steven was Jewish,
and even though his captors

00:44:26.360 --> 00:44:30.840
occasionally suspected
that he belonged to that faith,

00:44:31.000 --> 00:44:35.440
I never saw him beg or lose
his composure in front of them.

00:44:36.480 --> 00:44:40.559
I always saw him accept with dignity

00:44:40.719 --> 00:44:44.000
what it meant to be held prisoner
by the Islamic State.

00:45:38.440 --> 00:45:42.000
We hostages knew that our fate

00:45:42.159 --> 00:45:45.519
depended greatly on our nationality.

00:45:45.679 --> 00:45:50.679
We knew that French, Spanish, Italian

00:45:50.840 --> 00:45:53.119
and German nationalities

00:45:53.679 --> 00:45:56.280
were more protected
because their countries

00:45:56.440 --> 00:45:58.760
are more willing to protect
their citizens.

00:47:44.800 --> 00:47:46.000
Now that I’m in Raqqa,

00:47:46.159 --> 00:47:48.960
I’d like to return to the house
by the river.

00:47:51.119 --> 00:47:53.239
It was a villa next to the Euphrates.

00:47:53.960 --> 00:47:58.280
It was where we spent
the toughest times of our kidnapping.

00:48:05.679 --> 00:48:08.760
The house by the river
was a lovely villa.

00:48:08.920 --> 00:48:13.239
From the living room,
you could see the river and sunsets.

00:48:13.400 --> 00:48:15.360
It was very bucolic.

00:48:36.599 --> 00:48:40.559
The thing is, “The Beatles” turned up
the next day.

00:48:40.719 --> 00:48:43.480
So there were no more bucolic views
of the river.

00:48:43.639 --> 00:48:45.800
No more walks anywhere.

00:48:51.519 --> 00:48:54.719
Until then, “The Beatles”
only came to check up on us.

00:48:54.880 --> 00:48:58.280
But while we were in the house
next to the Euphrates,

00:48:58.440 --> 00:48:59.960
they were just next door.

00:49:00.119 --> 00:49:02.360
And it turned into absolute hell.

00:49:30.559 --> 00:49:34.159
One evening, they brought us
the leftovers of their meal.

00:49:34.760 --> 00:49:38.119
They ordered
a German prisoner

00:49:39.119 --> 00:49:43.039
to choose four other prisoners
to eat with him,

00:49:43.199 --> 00:49:45.800
while the others sat and watched.

00:49:47.719 --> 00:49:51.719
We were completely undernourished.

00:49:51.880 --> 00:49:57.119
We really looked like
Auschwitz prisoners.

00:49:57.639 --> 00:50:01.320
I could wrap my fingers around
my thighs. They were this size.

00:50:01.480 --> 00:50:03.440
A bone, a bit of flesh,
and that was it.

00:50:06.480 --> 00:50:08.800
It was obviously a ploy by Jihadi John

00:50:08.960 --> 00:50:12.760
to undermine our group spirit
and make it difficult

00:50:13.360 --> 00:50:17.920
to organise an escape together,
which is what they most feared.

00:50:21.760 --> 00:50:23.480
There was very little security.

00:50:23.639 --> 00:50:26.840
It was all glass, so it was easy
to break a window and try

00:50:27.000 --> 00:50:31.480
to jump out to who knows where,
but at least get out of the house.

00:50:48.719 --> 00:50:53.480
We were in Raqqa, hundreds
of kilometres from the Turkish border.

00:50:54.039 --> 00:50:58.199
It was the capital of ISIS.
There were 23 of us dressed in orange.

00:50:58.360 --> 00:51:02.239
We were all foreigners
and none of us spoke Arabic,

00:51:02.400 --> 00:51:04.079
so it was unfeasible.

00:51:04.239 --> 00:51:08.280
Anyone who had tried to escape
was brutally tortured.

00:51:08.440 --> 00:51:11.079
Daniel was brutally tortured.

00:51:11.519 --> 00:51:16.559
John Cantlie and James Foley
were brutally tortured.

00:51:16.719 --> 00:51:20.079
They were subjected to waterboarding,
beaten every day.

00:51:20.239 --> 00:51:24.239
Cantlie once said to me:
“They tortured us until

00:51:24.400 --> 00:51:28.320
we had nothing to live for,
until they considered us broken.”

00:51:34.199 --> 00:51:37.320
“The Beatles” used to come
to our cell regularly

00:51:37.480 --> 00:51:39.880
to give us a masterclass in Islam.

00:51:41.039 --> 00:51:45.400
We had to stand facing the wall
with our hands spread out.

00:51:46.239 --> 00:51:49.320
For hours we had to listen to

00:51:49.480 --> 00:51:51.679
the contents of that “lesson.”

00:51:51.840 --> 00:51:54.480
When they finished,
they asked us questions.

00:51:54.639 --> 00:51:58.840
If we didn’t reply the way
they wanted, they beat us up.

00:52:03.039 --> 00:52:06.320
They didn’t beat me as much
as the hostages

00:52:06.480 --> 00:52:08.079
from other countries.

00:52:08.239 --> 00:52:12.159
But I still got my fair share
of beatings on one occasion,

00:52:12.320 --> 00:52:15.920
and when that happened you felt

00:52:16.960 --> 00:52:20.119
very vulnerable.
You felt like from now on

00:52:21.239 --> 00:52:25.280
“The Beatles” were going to start
coming for you.

00:52:25.320 --> 00:52:27.440
You felt absolutely defenceless.

00:52:27.599 --> 00:52:29.199
That’s the toughest thing.

00:52:29.360 --> 00:52:34.519
Not the moments
when you’re being tortured,

00:52:34.679 --> 00:52:38.119
or the moments when they leave

00:52:38.280 --> 00:52:39.679
and you know that it’s over.

00:52:39.840 --> 00:52:43.039
It’s all the moments in between, when
at any time

00:52:43.199 --> 00:52:46.320
they can come in

00:52:47.599 --> 00:52:48.679
and start torturing you.

00:52:49.800 --> 00:52:51.920
They could kick you with their boots.

00:52:52.079 --> 00:52:55.280
They had an electric prod.

00:52:55.440 --> 00:52:59.800
They could grab someone, drag them out

00:52:59.960 --> 00:53:02.280
and beat them up outside.

00:53:02.559 --> 00:53:07.119
I remember that one day they beat us
according to our nationality.

00:53:07.280 --> 00:53:09.559
The French had just invaded,

00:53:09.719 --> 00:53:13.840
launched an offensive in Sahel
against Al Qaeda or ISIS.

00:53:14.440 --> 00:53:17.159
A beating for the French offensive.

00:53:17.199 --> 00:53:21.360
Daniel, the Dane, a beating because
of the Muhammad caricatures.

00:53:21.639 --> 00:53:26.639
Another day, poor Daniel
had his 25th birthday.

00:53:27.119 --> 00:53:30.239
Somehow his mother had managed
to send him,

00:53:30.400 --> 00:53:33.559
or his family sent him an email saying
“we love you.”

00:53:33.599 --> 00:53:37.840
George came in and kicked him
in the ribs 25 times to celebrate it.

00:54:12.880 --> 00:54:17.800
If someone reacted to the blows,
if someone groaned,

00:54:17.960 --> 00:54:22.639
or simply broke down,
they got a triple helping.

00:54:22.760 --> 00:54:27.199
You sensed that they could kill you
at any minute.

00:54:27.360 --> 00:54:32.159
I don’t think anyone thought
they would get off the hook.

00:54:32.760 --> 00:54:36.119
I was aware of the fact
that they had the option to kill us.

00:54:36.280 --> 00:54:37.880
I was in no doubt about it.

00:54:38.039 --> 00:54:39.679
One of our colleagues

00:54:39.840 --> 00:54:42.039
had been severely tortured

00:54:42.199 --> 00:54:45.599
and had a lot of digestive problems.

00:54:48.639 --> 00:54:53.119
He was in increasing pain.
He had various crises

00:54:53.679 --> 00:54:57.159
and definitely nearly died
on two occasions.

00:54:57.320 --> 00:55:00.320
He had to be treated
with intravenous infusions.

00:55:01.159 --> 00:55:03.599
I was at peace with the idea of dying.

00:55:03.760 --> 00:55:06.760
And that gave me
a lot of peace and tranquillity.

00:55:06.920 --> 00:55:08.079
And if the price

00:55:08.239 --> 00:55:12.320
for fulfilling my expectations
in life and being a correspondent

00:55:12.480 --> 00:55:18.320
is to be abducted and executed at 46,
then I accept it.

00:55:27.639 --> 00:55:31.280
We’ve lost count of how many
Wednesdays we’ve gathered here.

00:55:31.440 --> 00:55:36.360
Marc was kidnapped
exactly five months ago yesterday.

00:55:38.280 --> 00:55:41.920
We didn’t have any news
until late February.

00:55:42.639 --> 00:55:47.400
But then in late February
talks started again.

00:55:48.079 --> 00:55:51.079
It was just another disappointment,
though.

00:55:51.239 --> 00:55:54.199
We got our hopes up,
then had them quashed.

00:55:54.360 --> 00:55:56.800
They began talking more to Marc.

00:55:58.039 --> 00:56:02.239
They told him about his sister,
what his family were up to.

00:56:02.639 --> 00:56:07.119
It was obvious that their main goal
was to get Marc released.

00:56:07.280 --> 00:56:11.880
That gave us more hope
because we thought:

00:56:12.039 --> 00:56:14.119
“If they start with a Spaniard,

00:56:14.280 --> 00:56:17.360
it’s logical that the other Spaniards
will follow.”

00:56:17.519 --> 00:56:23.400
Jihadi John said to me one day,
“Marcos, are you ready to go?”

00:56:23.400 --> 00:56:28.000
“You’re going to be the lawyer
of all these ‘kafiroon’ [unbelievers].”

00:56:28.039 --> 00:56:33.320
It also makes you feel a bit confused.

00:56:34.320 --> 00:56:35.960
Being the first out

00:56:36.119 --> 00:56:39.159
might mean you’re the first
to be released or executed.

00:57:06.719 --> 00:57:09.440
When they came
to supposedly release me,

00:57:09.599 --> 00:57:12.800
I had a shower and they shaved off
my beard.

00:57:12.960 --> 00:57:15.320
And before I left the cell,

00:57:15.800 --> 00:57:19.719
I saw James Foley facing the wall
with his hands up,

00:57:20.239 --> 00:57:22.400
and Jihadi John said to James:

00:57:22.559 --> 00:57:26.679
“Touch Marc. This is the closest
you’ll ever get to freedom.”

00:57:51.840 --> 00:57:53.800
They took me to some scrubland.

00:57:53.960 --> 00:57:57.239
You could see lights far off,
a city in Turkey.

00:58:00.199 --> 00:58:04.599
I tried to give myself up
to the police in a patrol car.

00:58:04.760 --> 00:58:08.920
I tried to approach the car
and they fired at me.

00:58:09.079 --> 00:58:12.280
I said: “I’m a hostage.”

00:58:12.440 --> 00:58:14.559
I heard someone say in Turkish:

00:58:14.719 --> 00:58:17.199
“Go back. You can’t enter Turkey.”

00:58:17.360 --> 00:58:20.639
So, faced with the possibility
of being killed,

00:58:20.800 --> 00:58:24.000
I turned back.

00:58:24.880 --> 00:58:28.159
I saw a light.
It was a farmhouse.

00:58:28.519 --> 00:58:30.239
They took me in.

00:58:30.400 --> 00:58:33.760
They gave me boots, a coat
and something to eat.

00:58:33.920 --> 00:58:37.280
And the next day,
they took me to the border.

00:59:07.320 --> 00:59:11.760
The telephone
they used for sending me information.

00:59:11.920 --> 00:59:15.880
I got the call at 8.30 or 9.00
on a Sunday morning.

00:59:16.280 --> 00:59:20.639
And I thought: “At this time on
a Sunday, it’s one of two things:

00:59:20.800 --> 00:59:25.920
either something terrible has happened
or he’s been released.”

00:59:26.079 --> 00:59:28.119
I ran to the phone

00:59:28.280 --> 00:59:30.800
and they said to me:

00:59:31.559 --> 00:59:35.440
“Marcos has been released at last.”

00:59:35.599 --> 00:59:38.440
”He’ll call you from Turkey now.”

00:59:39.599 --> 00:59:43.800
I went running to...
I can’t express what I felt.

00:59:44.280 --> 00:59:47.760
I was screaming, crying,
thanking God

00:59:49.400 --> 00:59:52.159
on my knees. It was incredible.

00:59:52.320 --> 00:59:56.960
I was screaming so loud
that I woke up my whole family.

00:59:58.199 --> 01:00:01.199
And when Marcos called,
I couldn’t believe it.

01:00:01.360 --> 01:00:04.599
He wouldn’t let me talk.
We were both crying.

01:00:04.760 --> 01:00:06.159
He wouldn’t let me talk.

01:00:06.320 --> 01:00:10.239
He apologised
for what he’d put us through,

01:00:10.400 --> 01:00:13.320
and it wouldn’t happen again.

01:00:13.480 --> 01:00:15.079
He felt sort of guilty.

01:00:15.239 --> 01:00:17.840
Then he suddenly stopped and said:

01:00:18.000 --> 01:00:20.199
”Cristina,
there are many more journalists.”

01:00:20.360 --> 01:00:22.960
”They only released me.”

01:00:23.639 --> 01:00:26.400
We were all crying our eyes out.

01:00:37.400 --> 01:00:40.280
I was so shocked
when I went into the bathroom

01:00:40.800 --> 01:00:43.119
and saw myself in the mirror.

01:00:43.880 --> 01:00:47.000
I said: “Jesus, that isn’t me.”

01:00:47.159 --> 01:00:50.639
“Will I ever be myself again?
I don’t know.”

01:00:57.920 --> 01:01:01.559
We were so nervous.
Everyone wanted to go to the airport

01:01:01.719 --> 01:01:04.199
to welcome him home.

01:01:04.360 --> 01:01:07.880
When we saw him getting off the plane…

01:01:09.320 --> 01:01:12.000
We felt so moved.

01:01:12.159 --> 01:01:16.239
It was shocking.
He was incredibly skinny.

01:01:17.719 --> 01:01:19.280
But we were also so happy.

01:02:00.679 --> 01:02:04.880
As soon as he landed,
he had this incredible urge

01:02:05.039 --> 01:02:08.639
to explain, to talk about it,

01:02:08.800 --> 01:02:10.079
what it was like.

01:02:10.239 --> 01:02:13.719
He was talking all the time.
He talked non-stop.

01:02:35.920 --> 01:02:38.000
There’s always a post-kidnapping phase.

01:02:38.159 --> 01:02:42.280
In my case, that phase was almost
as hard as the actual kidnapping.

01:02:46.199 --> 01:02:48.639
One of my very first duties

01:02:48.800 --> 01:02:50.719
was to pass on information

01:02:50.880 --> 01:02:52.760
to the relatives of my colleagues,

01:02:52.920 --> 01:02:55.760
whom they hadn’t seen for years.

01:02:55.920 --> 01:02:57.719
That was very complicated.

01:03:02.280 --> 01:03:03.519
The second thing

01:03:03.679 --> 01:03:06.880
was the media attention
surrounding the kidnapping.

01:03:07.039 --> 01:03:09.280
I went back to work

01:03:09.880 --> 01:03:13.000
a month after being released.

01:03:13.159 --> 01:03:16.719
It was really hard to switch on
my computer every day

01:03:16.880 --> 01:03:21.039
and find messages,
offers of interviews

01:03:21.199 --> 01:03:23.320
for considerable amounts of money

01:03:23.480 --> 01:03:26.960
in exchange for details
about what I had experienced.

01:03:27.119 --> 01:03:29.440
I got the idea
that the Marc Marginedas

01:03:29.599 --> 01:03:33.920
who was abducted was devouring
Marc Marginedas the journalist.

01:03:34.079 --> 01:03:36.760
I would no longer
be able to do my job.

01:03:36.920 --> 01:03:39.760
That was why I gave no interviews.

01:03:45.920 --> 01:03:48.079
A few days after Marc was released

01:03:48.239 --> 01:03:50.199
“The Beatles” came in

01:03:50.360 --> 01:03:54.519
and said that Marc
had behaved really badly,

01:03:54.679 --> 01:03:58.079
that they’d told him not to talk
to the media, but he had.

01:03:58.239 --> 01:04:01.679
We all got beaten for it.

01:04:01.840 --> 01:04:04.480
And all right,
let’s not kid ourselves.

01:04:04.639 --> 01:04:06.519
We all knew

01:04:06.679 --> 01:04:10.159
that if you said something to Marc
he would do it.

01:04:10.320 --> 01:04:12.599
He was not indifferent to our fate.

01:04:13.199 --> 01:04:15.920
When they released Marc,

01:04:16.079 --> 01:04:18.159
they began talking to us more.

01:04:18.320 --> 01:04:20.920
They asked more things
about our lives.

01:04:21.079 --> 01:04:25.199
We realised we were going to be
the next to be released.

01:05:16.800 --> 01:05:20.920
I know that from the moment
we French were released,

01:05:21.079 --> 01:05:23.599
the situation got much worse
for the others.

01:05:23.760 --> 01:05:26.800
Food rations were drastically reduced

01:05:26.960 --> 01:05:30.280
and there were a lot more beatings.

01:06:44.679 --> 01:06:49.039
They were pessimistic.
They thought they’d be the last.

01:06:49.199 --> 01:06:51.480
They’d be used for propaganda videos.

01:06:51.639 --> 01:06:54.000
They were scared of being used
for propaganda,

01:06:54.159 --> 01:06:56.239
which was basically what happened.

01:06:59.760 --> 01:07:02.039
...has caused outrage in the US...

01:07:02.159 --> 01:07:04.000
An American journalist was beheaded

01:07:04.039 --> 01:07:06.800
after having been kidnapped
two years ago...

01:07:09.800 --> 01:07:12.800
Warning, the following images
are shocking

01:07:28.239 --> 01:07:31.239
The fact the first to be executed
was James Foley

01:07:31.400 --> 01:07:34.360
was a real shock.

01:07:34.519 --> 01:07:36.000
It really hurt us.

01:07:36.159 --> 01:07:40.159
I admired James Foley so much.

01:07:40.920 --> 01:07:45.159
And especially to see
that it could have been you,

01:07:45.320 --> 01:07:47.920
because there was no difference.

01:08:15.199 --> 01:08:17.560
Above all, I thought of the families.

01:08:17.720 --> 01:08:19.840
James Foley’s mother.

01:08:20.000 --> 01:08:24.359
The mothers of those men
had been in Barcelona.

01:08:24.520 --> 01:08:28.159
In some cases,
I had seen them and met them.

01:08:29.359 --> 01:08:33.560
I thought it was such
a dreadful tragedy.

01:10:31.720 --> 01:10:35.279
We immediately saw that they were all
going to be executed.

01:10:35.439 --> 01:10:39.680
They were more interested
in propaganda than any kind of talks.

01:11:19.760 --> 01:11:22.079
There were obviously after-effects.

01:11:22.239 --> 01:11:25.800
Anyone who says
they didn’t suffer them is in denial.

01:11:29.279 --> 01:11:30.520
However,

01:11:30.680 --> 01:11:33.640
it didn’t change my determination
to be a journalist.

01:11:33.800 --> 01:11:35.920
If anything, it strengthened it.

01:12:17.680 --> 01:12:19.079
From what I found out,

01:12:19.239 --> 01:12:22.680
Coalition bombing destroyed
the house by the river.

01:12:23.800 --> 01:12:26.560
Despite that, before leaving Syria,

01:12:26.720 --> 01:12:30.239
I have to go and see it.
That place is important to me.

01:12:56.920 --> 01:12:58.560
Oh my God.

01:12:58.720 --> 01:13:00.159
It’s incredible.

01:13:01.600 --> 01:13:05.399
Who would have thought
I’d be back here five years later?

01:13:45.479 --> 01:13:47.479
The house was here.

01:13:48.239 --> 01:13:50.239
The house was here.

01:13:52.640 --> 01:13:55.800
Look, you can see the island
where we wanted…

01:13:56.840 --> 01:13:58.920
where we wanted to escape to

01:13:59.079 --> 01:14:00.840
by swimming over the river.

01:14:08.600 --> 01:14:10.319
When we were here,

01:14:10.479 --> 01:14:14.560
we were always talking about
what we’d do afterwards.

01:14:16.640 --> 01:14:20.039
We made plans
to all meet up again one day.