Johnston describes kidnap ordeal

BBC correspondent Alan Johnston has been released after 114 days in captivity in the Gaza Strip. He describes the "appalling experience" at the hands of his captors, called the Army of Islam.

I am hugely grateful to all the people - an amazing number of people that worked on the Palestinian side, the British government, the BBC from top to bottom, and a huge amount of support from BBC listeners and viewers.

I had a radio almost throughout, and was able to follow all the extraordinary level of support and interest in my case, and it was a huge psychological boost.

I am immensely grateful. It's just the most fantastic thing to be free.

It was an appalling experience as you can imagine - 16 weeks kidnapped, sometimes quite terrifying, and frightening always because I didn't know how it was going end. It became almost hard to imagine normal life again.

I literally dreamt many times of being free, and always woke up back in that room. And now it really is over, and it really is indescribably good.

They were often rude and unpleasant, as you can imagine.

They did threaten my life, really, a number of times in various ways. There was one 24-hour period when they seemed to get very angry with the negotiation process, and they chained me up by my hands and ankles. But that only lasted 24 hours.

I was in Gaza for three years, and I know very well what Palestinian culture is, and the extraordinary warmth and hospitality - especially of Gaza.

I knew that the handful of people that kidnapped me were a complete aberration - something completely other.

'Dangerous group'

My memories of Gaza will be very much of the best kind, despite what happened to me.

It's true that the kidnappings - I covered 27 of them here, almost all of them were over in about 12 days.

I knew that there was one very dangerous group. I knew about them, and I was always afraid of them.

They struck first last August, and I was worried that they might get me one day, and they indeed did.

Across the Palestinian spectrum politically there was condemnation of the kidnapping and calls for my release and so on.

[Hamas leader Ismail] Haniya from the outset was very clear in his view.

I remember him saying that I was guest of the Palestinian people, and it wasn't right what was happening, and he was very solid from the beginning in going against the kidnappers and working to free me.

I have to say, though, that the kidnappers seemed very comfortable and very secure in their operation - until a couple of weeks ago when it became clear that Hamas would be in charge of the security situation on their own here, and after that the kidnappers were much more nervous and began to realise - and I began to feel that perhaps, if I was lucky, the end was coming.

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