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Alan Johnston, a BBC journalist, reacts after he was released in Gaza, July 4, 2007....

BBC reporter Alan Johnston released

GAZA (Reuters) - Alan Johnston, the BBC journalist held hostage in Gaza, was freed and handed over to Palestinian officials early on Wednesday after a late-night deal with the al Qaeda-inspired, clan-based group that kidnapped him in March.  "It is just the most fantastic thing to be free. It was an appalling experience and ... occasionally quite terrifying," he told the BBC from the home of local Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh after his 114-day ordeal. "I dreamt many times of being free and always woke up back in that room. Now it really is over and it is indescribably good to be out," said the Scot, who turned 45 in captivity. Describing it as the worst 16 weeks of his life and "like being buried alive" with "dangerous and unpredictable" captors, he later told a news conference with Haniyeh: "It's almost hard to believe that I'm not going to wake up in that room." He said he had twice fallen sick and was once chained for 24 hours but only in the last half hour did they "hit me a bit". Johnston, who had followed events by radio, thanked people round the world and colleagues for support during his ordeal, which lasted throughout a civil war in which Hamas seized control of Gaza from the Western-backed Fatah faction in June. Khaled Meshaal, the exiled leader of Hamas, told Reuters Johnston's release showed his Islamist movement was bringing order to the coastal enclave since seizing control. Hamas fighters had surrounded the area of Gaza City that is the base of the powerful Doghmush clan, one of whose leaders, officials say, is also a leading figure in the previously obscure Army of Islam. It is unclear how far radical groups, which have emerged this past year in Gaza, are linked to foreign al Qaeda groups.

SMILING

Johnston, smiling and looking drawn but well, was embraced by BBC colleagues after he arrived by car at Haniyeh's home amid a scrum of well-wishers and security men. Haniyeh draped Johnston in the Palestinian flag and wished him well. The BBC said it was "extremely relieved". British diplomats and senior BBC arrived in Gaza from Israel, apparently to take Johnston home. One of those who helped negotiate Johnston's release from the Army of Islam group said a leading Muslim cleric had been brought in by mediators to issue a fatwa, or religious edict, calling for his release. No ransom or other conditions were set, Abu Mujahed of the Popular Resistance Committees militant group, told Reuters. Meshaal told Reuters by phone: "The efforts by Hamas have produced the freedom of Alan Johnston." Referring to his rivals from the Fatah faction of Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas, he said: "It showed the difference between the era in which a group used to encourage and commit security anarchy and chaos and the current situation in which Hamas is seeking to stabilise security." The Palestinian ambassador to London, who represents the government Abbas set up last month after dismissing a Hamas-led administration, said Hamas wanted to "capitalise" on the deal. But he said: "The credit goes to the Palestinian people." Johnston, the only Western correspondent working full-time in the troubled coastal enclave, went missing on March 12 when his car was found abandoned. Many weeks later, his captors issued Internet videos showing Johnston and seeking the release of Islamists held prisoner by Britain and other states.

Most recently, after Hamas officials threatened to free him by force from the clan's stronghold, Johnston was shown wearing a suicide belt with the warning he would die if that happened. Hamas was elected to run the Palestinian government 18 months ago but was shunned by Israel and Western powers. Its local leader, Haniyeh, still considers himself prime minister but Abbas has appointed an emergency government without Hamas involvement in the larger territory of the West Bank.

'I'll stay out of trouble'

Freed journalist Alan Johnston vowed to 'stay out of trouble' as he thanked thousands of people for their support during his 114-day ordeal. » More

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Johnston 'to stay out of trouble'
Press Assoc. - Wednesday, July 4 04:14 pm

Freed journalist Alan Johnston vowed to "stay out of trouble" as he thanked thousands of people for their support during his 114-day ordeal in captivity.

Speaking to hundreds of BBC staff at Television Centre in London via a live link-up from Jerusalem he said he would be grateful for the rest of his life.

The BBC correspondent, who was held in Gaza by a group calling itself the Army of Islam, was freed in the early hours of Wednesday morning after an international campaign for his release.

He is recovering from his ordeal at the British High Commission in Jerusalem before returning to the UK to be reunited with his parents Graham and Margaret, who live in Lochgoilhead in Argyll.

His release was earlier welcomed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, BBC director general Mark Thompson and others in the media and politics as well as religious groups.

Mr Johnston told the crowd in London he had been humbled to hear of people, most of whom did not know him, standing - often in the rain - week after week at vigils of support.

Describing himself as "quite a quiet bloke" he said he had been amazed to hear of even the EastEnders Albert Square set falling silent in his honour.

Sporting a new close-cropped haircut he joked he had just been at the barbers to get rid of "that just-kidnapped look".

And he drew laughs from the crowd when he said: "I'm going to do everything I can to stay out of trouble - I couldn't bear it to ask you all to do all of that twice, just imagine the embarrassment."

He told them: "If you have ever been a kidnap victim, you know, the thing you don't want is to be just left behind, buried alive and the world just goes on without you. And I knew that the BBC was never going to let go, you people just wouldn't let go and I'm immensely grateful to you and I will be all my life."

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