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Marwa Mohamed:
Published in:
Sunday, May 10, 2020 – 5:59 p.m.
The | Last update:
Sunday, May 10, 2020 – 6:36 p.m.
After a year and a half of kidnapping, Italy released Italian citizen Silvia Romano, who was volunteering for a humanitarian organization in Kenya, and was kidnapped there, after a joint intelligence operation.
Today Silvia returned to Italy where she landed on a plane from the Italian Agency for Information and External Security at the Rome Ciampino airport. It was received by the Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luigi de Mayo.
Upon arrival, Silvia said: “I am very happy, thank you … I am in good physical and mental health … I was strong … Thanks to the institutions. Now I want to be with my family.”
Silvia confirmed that she converted to Islam while incarcerated in Somalia, after her kidnappers in Kenya handed her over to the Somali Youth Movement, adding: “It is true that she converted to Islam,” according to the Italian agency “Nova.”
Silvia added: “But it was my free will, there was no compulsion from the kidnappers who always treated me humanely.”
Silvia appeared at the Ciampino airport in a green Islamic dress, as well as a muzzle and gloves, and Silvia plans to leave for Milan in the evening to join her family in the Casoretto area.
Sylvia was kidnapped in November 2018 by a group of armed men during an attack on a village in a rural area on the Kenyan coast.
The hostage was released on Friday May 9 in an area 30 km from Mogadishu thanks to cooperation between Italian intelligence and its Somali counterparts.
6 months ago, after receiving evidence that Silvia was alive, Italian negotiations to pay the ransom began in mid-April.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced on Facebook yesterday that: “Silvia Romano has been released. I thank the women and men of international intelligence. We are waiting for you in Italy, Silvia.”
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