Bad call: A charity is querying whether the government should have funded the supply of spy technology.
British schoolteacher David Bolam has been released after nearly five months of captivity in Libya, reportedly after payment of a ransom to his captors.
“Glad that David Bolam is safe and well after his ordeal and has been reunited with his family, who we have been supporting since he was taken,” British foreign secretary Philip Hammond wrote on Twitter.
Bolam (53) was kidnapped by militants in May in Libya’s second largest city Benghazi, much of which is under the control of militants.
Head teacher at the international school in Benghazi, he is originally from Shropshire in western England.
An American teacher from the same school, Ronnie Smith, was shot dead during his morning jog in December 2013.
Bolam’s captors had contacted the Libyan director of the school to demand a ransom, according to a source at the establishment speaking on condition of anonymity.
The BBC reported that his release had been secured by local political factions and that money had changed hands. It said that Bolam had been flown back to Britain on Thursday.
His kidnapping had not been reported at the request of officials.
Bolam’s release follows the beheading of British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning, among four Western hostages executed since August by Islamic State (Isis) militants.
American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff were also executed by Isis militants operating in Syria and Iraq, with all four murders made public in videos.
‘One of the best’
The British foreign office said that since teacher Bolam was released, his family had appealed for privacy.
The SITE intelligence group – which monitors what it calls the “jihadist threat” – identified a video posted on YouTube last month of Bolam, looking dishevelled and wearing a white T-shirt, appealing for British Prime Minister David Cameron to help secure his release.
The video, apparently recorded in August, was released by a group that called itself Jeish al-Islam (Army of Islam) but SITE could not authenticate it due to a lack of information.
Libya has been sliding into chaos since long-time leader Muammar Gaddafi was toppled in an uprising three years ago, with interim authorities confronted by powerful militias that fought to oust him.
The cradle of the uprising against Gaddafi, Benghazi is now regularly the scene not only of fighting but also the murders of members of security forces, political activists and journalists.
A former teacher at Bolam’s school, Ged O’Connor Challis, told the BBC that he had spoken to Bolam on the telephone the morning he was kidnapped.
He said Bolam had been captured while he was out shopping.
“He is single-minded and stubborn,” Challis added. “He is a very bright person. He is an English teacher – one of the best I have ever met.”
Michael Aron, Britain’s ambassador to Libya, wrote on Twitter: “Delighted Benghazi Head Teacher David Bolam has been released after over four months in captivity”. – AFP