A year on, Hyderabad woman rescued from Somalia

HYDERABAD: A woman from Hyderabad and her three daughters, who were held captive in war-torn Somalia for close to a year, were rescued in a mission that was kept under wraps due to security reasons. Afreen Begum, 31, was recused on March 28 in a coordinated effort between diplomats at the Indian high commission in Kenya and the Somali police.

She reached her Nawab Saheb Kunta home at Jahanuma, in the Old City, on Monday and said she wanted to put her nightmarish experience in Mogadishu behind her . Bringing Afreen and her minor daughters out of Somalia safely is said to have been made possible after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Somali authorities.

The family says Afreen’s husband, Mohammed Hussain Duale, abandoned her in Mogadishu and shifted to Canada without giving any reason or explanation. “But I am glad I am back with my family in Hyderabad,” Afreen told TOI on Tuesday.

The couple married in 2013. Hussain is a Somali national who had been living in Hyderabad till 2018 and was working for a private company. “There was a small window in my room. When I got the signal, I walked out of the home,” she said.