Rachel and Paul Chandler held captive by Somali Pirates for more than a year
A former minicab driver who claimed to have masterminded the release of Paul and Rachel Chandler has received a hero’s welcome as he arrived back in the UK.
Dahir Abdullahi Kadiye, 56, was cheered by around 70 members of the British Somali community as he arrived at Heathrow airport.
He was handed flowers by a number of members of the group – some of whom came to the airport from as far away as Liverpool and Leicester.
The Somali Briton was reported to have negotiated the couple’s safe exit from Somali pirates who had held them for more than a year.
For the past 388 days, Paul and Rachel Chandler have been held captive when their sailboat was hijacked by Somali Pirates in the Indian Ocean. Almost a month after they were kidnapped, I was informed of their plight as I watched the evening news. While the TV is often filled with horrible stories, this one seemed to stand out among the crowd. I guess seeing a video of two innocent people being held at gun point really moved me!
Sometimes a person gets so inspired that they join a worthy cause so they can “make a difference”. I felt compelled to help these two unfortunate people, but had absolutely no idea how. After all, I did’t know them, didn’t know their family or friends, didn’t have any contacts in their homeland of England and certainly didn’t have any knowledge of Somalia or even pirates. Not to mention, Im also almost 10,000 miles away. So, I thought, how could one person from California possibly help?
A few months before this happened, I had read an article about the rescue of Capt. Richard Phillips. After a 5 day stand off with Somali pirates, the captain and his crew, along with their cargo ship, were freed with the help of the U.S. Navy. I figured if I attracted the attention of the right people, this too could be resolved quickly. Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to use the power of the internet to raise awareness so people with more power than me would feel compelled to step in and offer assistance.
Shortly after I set up this site, more news surfaced about the Chandlers. There were articles about physical abuse and possible executions if demands weren’t immediately met. Amidst all the reports, different figures were published as to the amount of the ransom being requested by the pirates. As I was posting these news articles, the site gained in popularity and attracted more attention that I had anticipated.
On quite a few occasions, I fielded emails from both soldier-of-fortune wannabes and legitimate organizations that were actually qualified to help, albeit for a hefty daily fee. I was also contacted by quite a few people asking the same question, “What can I do to help?”. While it looked like my idea of raising awareness had worked, I began to notice something else which was rather disturbing. It appeared that the pirates were trying to use the media to help increase the Chandlers’ “value” and in turn the amount of their ransom demand. When I discovered this, I realized that posting all the news that was floating around the internet wasn’t such a good idea. I was also convinced, by some well known organizations who deal with this type of activity all the time, that I should be very careful about what I say. After all, the last thing I wanted to do was is to make matters worse so I took some of their advice.
Well, its been 388 days and Im pleased to say:
PAUL AND RACHEL CHANDLER ARE FINALLY FREE!!!
Im sure Paul & Rachel, their family and the viewers of this site are also excited to hear this news! I wish the Chandlers a very happy homecoming and hope they can resume their lives quickly.
For those of you that were also compelled to offer your support through private emails and contributions, THANK YOU! As for the money this site raised, while it was an extremely small amount, it was still successfully used as it was to be intended.
As for who I am now that this is finally over, well, lets just say that Im just an average guy named Scott from California who has learned quite a bit during this journey! I’ve met amazing people along the way and have been enlightened by some of the injustice that occurs outside my countries borders. And, when all that can be revealed is published, I hope that my efforts did more good than harm at helping 2 strangers Ive never met secure their freedom.
An article was just posted by the Mirror that stated Pirate leader Maslah Yare put Paul Chandler, 60, and wife Rachel, 56, into a car and hid them in a forest.
Al-Shabab, a group linked to al-Qaeda, had been closing in on the pirates’ lair. Yare, who wants a £1.3million ransom, said they would be abandoned if Al-Shabab got too close because “our lives are more important”.
It has been rumored that Al-Shabab may have similar financial interests in participating in the kidnapping of the British sailing couple, Paul and Rachel Chandler.
On Sunday March 14th, 2010, disturbing news was released to the media regarding Rachel Chandler. Allegedly, she has been wounded by a small caliber bullet fired by a Somali pirate.
I have yet to find any evidence that supports the validity of this announcement, so I’m not going to re-post the original story. Also, as barbaric as this tragedy is, I haven’t found any evidence that the pirates harm their captives without provocation.
Regardless, the fact remains that both Rachel and Paul Chandler are still being held captive after almost 5 months and we would like to see them rejoin their families! Hopefully we will see some positive news soon!
Relatives of the British couple held hostage by Somali pirates have welcomed reports that they could soon be released.
Paul Chandler and his wife Rachel, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were captured while sailing from the Seychelles towards Tanzania in October last year.
Somali deputy parliamentary speaker Mohamed Omar Dalha said he was hopeful they would be freed within two weeks. He said that communities inside and outside the war-ravaged country have been working to negotiate their unconditional release.
Stephen Collett – Mrs Chandler’s brother – refused to be drawn on any details of the hoped-for release but said he was “pleased” by the news. He has been in contact with the pirates via local broadcasters and the Foreign Office, who have been working towards their release.
The Chandlers are among about 130 sailors held hostage in Somalia.
In a telephone interview with a Somali television station, Mrs Chandler, who has recently appeared gaunt in pictures, said: “I’m obviously very tormented and very, very lonely and worried.” Meanwhile, Mr Chandler described their forced partition as “torture”.
The British Government has refused to pay a ransom for the couple and called for their immediate release. The Somali pirates have previously demanded a “seven million dollars” (£4.6 million) ransom for their safe release.
In a phone call translated by the BBC, one of the pirates said: “If they do not harm us, we will not harm them – we only need a little amount of seven million dollars.”
Mr Chandler, 59, and his wife, 55, were captured when armed men boarded their yacht as they slept.
It has since emerged that the crew of a Royal Navy vessel was forced to watch the Chandlers being kidnapped by pirates but military officials have insisted that the Royal Fleet Auxiliary replenishment tanker Wave Knight, carrying 75 merchant seamen and 25 Royal Navy sailors, could not have acted without endangering the lives of the couple.
Bartamaha (Nairobi):- The pirates who captured a retired British couple four months ago have dismissed growing pressure from the Somali diaspora for their unconditional release but are reducing their ransom demands.
Speaking to The Times from the place where Paul and Rachel Chandler are held, a pirate leader identifying himself as Ali Gedow rejected appeals from the British and other expatriate Somali communities worried about their reputation. “We don’t care about their pressure,” he declared.
But he made no mention of the pirates’ original demand for a $7 million (£4.5 million) ransom and suggested that they might release the couple if they can recoup their “expenses”. He put those at around $2 million, claiming that they included the cost of 150 guards, renting vehicles and food.
SOMALIS living in Redbridge have vowed to do “everything in our power” to help free a British couple kidnapped last year by Somali pirates stalking the Indian Ocean.
Yusuf Munye, 34, of Chester Road, Seven Kings, is leading a united front among the borough’s Somali population in the push to get Rachel and Paul Chandler released.
They were kidnapped while sailing from the Seychelles to Tanzania in October.
Their captors have threatened to kill the couple if their demands for $7million (£4.4million) are not met.
Mr Munye said: “Some people think the Somali community in Ilford supports the pirates.
“The main reason we have come together is to show we don’t support them.
“We are totally against their actions and we support our British brothers and sisters.”
Video footage released of the couple at the end of January showed them appealing for help after almost four months in captivity.
Last week, members of the Redbridge Somali community met in the Cardinal Heenan Centre, High Road, Ilford, to discuss what they could do to help bring the couple home.
Mr Munye said: “The government has said they won’t pay a ransom but we’re thinking about raising money to help.
“We’re also talking about trying to make contact with these pirates to help bring the Chandlers home.
“If we’re able to talk to them or to others in Somalia, there’s a chance they will release them.
“We will do everything in our power to free them.”
Mrs Chandler, 60 and Mr Chandler, 56, are understood to have been separated by their captors and are being held in areas between the coastal village of Elhur and the small town of Amara, which is further inland.
Her face is gaunt and drawn, her frame skeletal and weak.
The shocking effects of captivity are all too clear in this picture of Rachel Chandler, who has been held by Somali pirates for the last three months.
The image was taken by a French news agency that was allowed to accompany a doctor who examined Mrs Chandler and her husband Paul, who are being held separately.
Photo of Rachel Chandler at a location in central Somalia, where she is being held by pirates
The strain on 56-year-old Mrs Chandler’s face is clearly visible as she sits with her dress hanging loosely from her thin shoulders.
Yesterday she renewed her plea for urgent help, saying: ‘We have not much time left and are being badly treated. Please help us – these people are not treating us well.’
She went on: ‘I’m old, I’m 56, and my husband is 60 years old. We need to be together because we have not much time left. These people are treating us so cruelly.’
This is only the second time Mrs Chandler, an economist, has been seen since she and her husband were kidnapped in October at gunpoint as they sailed in their yacht towards Tanzania.
The last time was in November, when a video taken by the kidnappers – who are demanding a £1.9million ransom – was shown on Channel 4.
Mrs Chandler being examined by Somali doctor Abdi Mohamed Helmi at a location in central Somalia
They have made other pleas for help in desperate phone calls, most recently on January 21, but the physical deterioration in yesterday’s new images are clear.
The Somalian doctor who examined Mrs Chandler said she was suffering a heavy ‘ mental’ toll as well, which was manifested in ‘insomnia’.
Surgeon Mohamed Helmi Hangul, who spent three weeks securing permission to visit the couple, said she was ‘mentally ill’, ‘anxious’, ‘disorientated’ and had been asking repeatedly for her husband.
Mr Chandler also appeared gaunt in the video taken last Thursday but released last night. His ribs could be seen as he lifted his shirt to be checked by the doctor, who reported he had a cough and a fever.
Paul Chandler is examined by the Somali doctor: The pair are being held in separate locations in rugged areas between the coastal village of Elhur and the small town of Amara
Paul Chandler, 60, pleaded for help after admitting the conditions they were being held in were 'difficult'
In the video, filmed by the AFP photographer, Mr Chandler, a retired quantity surveyor, called on the British Government to intervene.
‘We are innocent. We have done no wrong. We have no money and can’t pay a ransom. We just need the Government to help, anyone who can get us out of here,’ he said. ‘Day after day and this is 98 days of solitary confinement, no exercise. I don’t know what to do.’ Mr Chandler finally pleaded: ‘Will somebody please help? The government or somebody else.’
Dr Hangul added he had not been allowed to bring any drugs with him but left a prescription-with the pirates. ‘I gave them some advice and told them, “Your hostages can die. All you want is money so treat them well, let them reunite”,’ he said.
Mrs Chandler’s brother, Stephen Collett, was too distressed to comment last night. A family friend said: ‘This is a highly distressing time for the family. They know the stakes are high and they are in an impossible position. The pirates want an unaffordable ransom and the Government won’t pay it.’
There has been sporadic communication with the Chandlers since they were captured, although this was the first time a journalist had been able to meet them.
Eleven days ago Mr Chandler spoke to ITV news, explaining their captives had ‘set a deadline of three or four days’, after which they expected to them to ‘kill us and abandon us in the desert’. In a separate call, Mrs Chandler said she had been hit with an object she believed was a gun.
A gang member told the Daily Mail last month that the couple, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, would be shot by the end of February if they were not paid a $3million ransom.
The Chandlers are being held in rugged areas between the coastal village of Elhur and the small inland town of Amara but are moved every 48 hours.
Foreign Secretary David Miliband has already insisted the Government will not become involved in any ransom payments.
A Foreign Office spokesman last night said: ‘We are doing everything we can to help secure their release.’
Somali pirates yesterday threatened a fight to the death that would endanger a hostage British couple if British forces attempt to rescue their captives.
“We die first before they get freed,” said one of the pirates, contacted by satellite telephone.
Paul and Rachel Chandler, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were captured on October 23 as they sailed their yacht, the 38ft Lynn Rival, from the Seychelles towards Tanzania.
The pirates’ new threat follows reports that an operation mounted by the Special Boat Service to rescue the couple was “bungled” before it could reach them because of technical problems.
If anyone interrupts our negotiations to get the payment of a ransom, it will be a risk for them [the Chandlers],” said “Gelle”, one of the pirates guarding the couple. “So we advise that no one interrupts our current good discussions.”
In the only comment that held some hope for the Chandlers, Gelle said that they had lowered their demand from $7m to $2m “or whatever price that we agree”. It was a clear signal that the pirates are open to offers.
Last week a Greek tanker, Maran Centaurus, was released for a reported $5.5m to $7m.
Gelle said that his group had spoken yesterday and on Friday with one of five brokers supposedly involved in negotiating a ransom. He said he believed the brokers were negotiating with “close relatives of our hostages, or other people trusted on behalf of them”.
The pirates are based in Haradheere, a fishing village north of the capital, Mogadishu. As well as the Chandlers, pirates are holding 11 ships, including the British-flagged chemical tanker St James Park which was seized on December 28.
Chandler, 59, said in an earlier telephone interview with ITV News, broadcast last week, that he and his wife, 55, had been separated and beaten and that he expected to be killed within “three or four days”.
Gelle denied the Chandlers were living under difficult conditions. “Okay, maybe they don’t feel good or comfortable but according to us they are fine,” he said.
“We also live in this situation so we do not think that they are that different from us. Once we get food, we share with them, and when there is a shortage of food they suffer with us.”
While I know Im not the first to create a website to help innocent people escape imprisonment, Im pretty sure this is the first time that anyone has ever offered a Money Back Guarantee!
Paul and Rachel Chandler were captured by Somali Pirates almost 100 days ago. They are being held captive in exchange for $7 million US dollars. However, its been reported that the pirates would be willing to ’settle’ with approximately $100,000.
This site has been created not to argue the merits of hostage negotiations nor figure out a solution to end the piracy problem. It was created with the sole purpose of obtaining freedom for Paul and Rachel Chandler!
My commitment is to create a vehicle where by people can donate for the cause. Im also committed to helping facilitate the exchange – money for the Chandlers. If by any reason, the money raised by this site is NOT used towards the ransom of the Chandlers, then I WILL offer the donors an option of full MONEY BACK or they can have me direct the funds to the family on their behalf.
As stated in the “about” section of this site, my goal is not to make money from this tragic event. As a matter of fact, I have already put several hundred dollars and a LOT of hours into this with my only goal of seeing these two innocent people escape their captors.
Now you can help a cause AND have a Money Back Guarantee!
Relatives of the British couple held hostage by Somali pirates have welcomed reports that they could soon be released.
Bartamaha (Nairobi):- The pirates who captured a retired British couple four months ago have dismissed growing pressure from the Somali diaspora for their unconditional release but are reducing their ransom demands.
While I know Im not the first to create a website to help innocent people escape imprisonment, Im pretty sure this is the first time that anyone has ever offered a Money Back Guarantee!
