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Wednesday 4th July
BBC journalist Alan Johnston has been freed after 114 days being held hostage in Gaza.
Kidnapped in March, he was freed early last night (Tuesday night/Wednesday morning) after a late-night deal between the ruling Hamas Islamists and the al Qaeda-inspired clan group that captured him.
The 45 year old Scot said after his release, "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."
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, "It's almost hard to believe that I'm not going to wake up in that room."
Johnston was ill twice during his captivity, and once chained for a 24h period. He said it was only in the last half hour or so that they "hit me a bit". He was kept in a shuttered room without daylight for the last 3 months of his captivity.
Speaking to his father on the phone last night, he said he was "100%" but didn't have any chance to say much else.
Posted by Cameron
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