A CANADIAN journalist freed by Somali kidnappers today with Australian Nigel Brennan says she was beaten and tortured during her 15 months in captivity. Ms Lindhout said they were released today after a ransom "was paid by our families" to the kidnappers, she told Canadian television in a telephone interview from the hotel in Mogadishu were they were taken by Somali officials.
"I believe they are taking that money and, as far as I understand, they plan on leaving the country," Ms Lindhout told CTV News Channel.
"It's a long story. It's been sort of going on for the last couple of weeks, and tonight finally everything came together and the men who had kidnapped us turned us over to the federal government in Somalia."
Ms Lindhout said she was beaten and tortured while in captivity.
"It was extremely oppressive. I was kept by myself at all times. I had no one to speak to. I was normally kept in a room with a light, no window, I had nothing to write on or with. There was very little food. I was allowed to use the toilet exactly five times a day," she said.
"There were times that I was beaten, that I was tortured. It was an extremely, extremely difficult situation."
She said the kidnappers told her they were beating her because the money "wasn't coming quickly enough".
"They seemed to think that if they beat me enough, then when I was able to speak to my mother - which they would put me on the line with her every couple of months - that I would be able to say the right thing to convince her to pay the ransom for me, which was $1 million," she said.
"Of course, my family didn't have $1 million and it didn't matter what I said to them. But they didn't really understand that. They thought: She's Canadian, everyone in Canada is rich. She must have $1 million."
One of the kidnappers, who refused to identify himself, said that a ransom of $US1 million ($1.08 million) had been paid for the pair's release.
Their release was confirmed by an independent source in the Somali capital Mogadishu to an AFP journalist.
Ms Lindhout and Mr Brennan were in a Mogadishu hotel today, pending their departure from Somalia tomorrow.
A hotel employee said the two journalists were "very tired" following the end of their ordeal, one of the longest-running of many kidnappings in the lawless country.
Mr Brennan has told Australia's Channel 7 network he is relieved and safe and looking forward to going home.
A Somali journalist and two drivers were also taken hostage but were freed after 177 days in captivity. They were unable to identify their captors or the motives for the kidnappings.
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