Hostage alive and free after being held for 6 years

Six years of suffering are finally over for South African hostage Gerco van Deventer and his family.

Gift of the Givers has announced the unconditional release of Mali’s Van Deventer, who was sold to Al Qaeda in 2018.

Gerco van Deventer has been released after six years of being held hostage

On Saturday, the organization received news of his release.

“We await the next step on his health and arrangements to bring him home to be reunited with wife Shereen and son Asher.

It has been six agonising years of prayer, patience, and hope,” the charity said in a Facebook post.

It is understood that he is currently undergoing medical evaluation in hospital and is expected to be reunited with his family shortly.

Dr. Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of Gift of the Givers, told eNCA.
The charity has supported Mr Van Deventer’s release in recent years.

How was he held hostage

Garco Van Denventer before beinge held hostage

Van Deventer was an emergency paramedic who was working for a security company when he was seized on 3 November 2017, while on his way to a power plant construction site south of Libya’s capital Tripoli.

Al-Qaeda affiliate, Jama’at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin, had asked for a ransom of $3m (£2.4m) in 2018, and the charity negotiated the amount down to $500,000.

However, Van Deventer’s family and employer could not afford the amount, and the militants finally released him “unconditionally” on Saturday.

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