'I wasn't going to take a bullet to the head': Aussie photographer kidnapped in Somalia and held hostage for 15 months reveals how he escaped alive
- An Australian who was kidnapped by Somalian kidnappers has shared his story
- Nigel Brennan was taken hostage during a 2018 trip to photograph the country
- He described the trauma of being ambushed by masked rebels at gunpoint
- The kidnappers demanded more than $2million AUD for Mr Brennan's release
- After 15 months, Mr Brennan was released after his family paid $800,000
An Australian photojournalist who was held hostage for more than a year by Somalian kidnappers has revealed how he managed to evade his captors.
Nigel Brennan was in 2008 taken hostage by Somalian rebels during a trip to the war-torn country to take photos with his colleague Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout.
'I look back at it now and I think, you know, how did I ever survive that,' Mr Brennan recalled on the latest episode of podcast How I Survived.
Nigel Brennan, who was held hostage for more than a year by Somalian kidnappers has revealed how he managed to evade his captors
Mr Brennan (pictured right) was taken hostage by Somalian rebels during a trip to the war-torn country to take photos with his colleague Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout (pictured left)
He described how four days into his trip, the pair were intercepted by rebels as they travelled from the capital city of Mogadishu to a camp for displaced people.
About 5km outside of the city, Mr Brennan, Ms Lindhout and their crew were told the guards wouldn't be completing the journey with them and they would go it alone.
Despite the risks, the group decided to continue their journey without security, but after a few more kilometres, they were ambushed by masked rebels at gunpoint.
'I think my brain just completely switched off from the shock because I was acutely aware something was wrong but couldn't compute quick enough,' he said.
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Mr Brennan said the group of five were then driven to a compound where he and Ms Lindhout were separated from the others and interrogated.
He said four men questioned them and accused the pair of being spies - it was at this point, Mr Brennan realised he and his fellow journalist had been kidnapped.
The photojournalist described how over the next few days the shock of the kidnapping finally started to set in as he progressed through various stages of grief.
He said while he was initially concerned about his camera gear, his worries then changed to that of his family back home who would have to deal with the rebels.
After 15 months of captivity, Mr Brennan said the pair were eventually released in 2009 when their families paid the kidnappers more than $800,000
Mr Brennan's fears only worsened when the kidnappers demanded more than $2million AUD for the pair's safe release.
'My parents had just retired three years earlier…I was very aware that I was potentially going to destroy their retirement financially,' he said.
While Mr Brennan's and Ms Lindhout's families desperately scrambled to get the money together, the days turned into weeks and then months.
He recalled how the frustrated captors separated the pair and how he feared for the safety of Ms Lindhout, who they threatened to kill if they didn't get their money.
Mr Brennan said the situation became dire when one of the kidnappers said they would execute them regardless of whether or not they got a ransom.
Almost 10 years later, Canadian police managed to capture one of the kidnappers, Ali Omar Ader (pictured), who was sentenced to 15 years jail
Despite the news of Ader's arrest being welcomed by police, Mr Brennan (pictured) said he has learned to embrace the power of forgiveness to overcome his anger
'So from my point of view I thought if I was going to die, I was actually gonna make them work for it. I wasn't just gonna take a bullet to the back of the head,' he said.
Desperate to escape, the pair made a dash for freedom one day, only to be captured again a short time later - seemingly making the situation worse.
But after 15 months of captivity, Mr Brennan said the pair were eventually released in 2009 when their families paid the kidnappers more than $800,000.
Almost 10 years later, Canadian police managed to capture one of the kidnappers, Ali Omar Ader, who was sentenced to 15 years jail.
Despite the news of Ader's arrest being welcomed by police, Mr Brennan said he has learned to embrace the power of forgiveness to overcome his anger.
'I realised after a few years that the only person that was affecting was me, because I was spending so much time and so much energy and really a lot of negative energy,’ he said.
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