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Insight: Sept 10

Next week Insight explores what happens when Australians are kidnapped overseas.

insight7Next week on Insight, Jenny Brockie explores what happens when Australians are kidnapped overseas, hearing from hostages and families at the centre of international cases.

This week, journalist Amanda Lindhout spoke out in detail for the first time about her experiences of being kidnapped in Somalia for over a year alongside Australian photojournalist Nigel Brennan.

Host Jenny Brockie hears survival stories from Nigel and others who have been held hostage in some of the world’s most dangerous regions.

Families, including Nigel’s sister and negotiator Nicky Bonney, as well as kidnap and ransom experts, discuss the delicate process of kidnap negotiation, where victims’ lives balance on a knife edge.

The guests also debate the Australian Government’s ‘no ransom’ policy and explore how some families sidestep the system to free their loved ones.

Guests include:

Nigel Brennan and Nicky Bonney
Photojournalist Nigel Brennan and journalist Amanda Lindhout were abducted from outside of the Somali capital, Mogadishu in 2008. They were held hostage for 462 days. The kidnappers eventually released them after their families and friends paid a ransom of $500,000. Nicky Bonney is Nigel’s sister and was the main contact person with his kidnappers, negotiating the ransom and release.

Josh and Karen Nijam
Josh Nijam and his co-workers were taken hostage in Nigeria while working for a multinational pipeline company in 2003. They were held for four days. On the third day, the kidnappers selected Josh to negotiate a ransom with his employer. Josh’s wife, Karen, says she received very little information from Josh’s company while her husband was held captive.

Des Gregor
Des Gregor went to Mali in 2007 to meet a woman he had ‘met’ on an online dating site. But there was no woman. Upon arriving, Des was taken to an apartment and held hostage by a group of armed men who threatened to cut off his limbs unless he gave them $100,000. Des was held for almost two weeks before the Australian Federal Police tricked the kidnappers into handing him over to the Canadian Embassy in Mali.

Paul Fitton
Paul Fitton is a kidnap and ransom consultant with security firm Intelligent Risks. He says the initial 24 to 48 hours after a kidnap is crucial and establishing “proof of life” is his company’s first main goal. He says in many countries, westerners are perceived as being wealthier than the local population and are therefore a target of kidnappers for ransom.

Mark Turner
Professor Mark Turner is the head of the School of Government and Policy at the University of Canberra. He says, like many other countries, Australia has a policy of not paying ransoms. He says the top countries for kidnapping are ones that could be described as “weak states”.

Tuesday 10 September, 8.30pm on SBS ONE

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