Tebbutt says son secured her release from Somalia

British hostage Judith Tebbutt, released on Wednesday more than six months after her Somali abductors killed her husband, said in a television interview that her son had secured her freedom.

"I am just happy to be released and I'm looking forward to seeing my son who successfully secured my release. I don't know how he did it, but he did. Which is great," she told Britain's ITV in an interview filmed in Somalia.

"Seven months is a long time and ... the circumstances, with my husband passing away, made it harder," said Tebbutt, whose husband David was killed in the September 11 attack on the Kenyan beach resort where they were staying.

"There were some very hard psychological moments," she said, faltering, "but I got through it."

The 57-year-old said she was moved from house to house during her captivity, which she found "very disorientating".

In a separate ITV interview filmed in the days before her release and broadcast for the first time on Wednesday, Tebbutt said she was in good health and had not been mistreated by her captors.

"I sleep very well here," said the Briton, who Somali elders said Wednesday was being flown to Nairobi, the capital of neighbouring Kenya.

Looking thin but upbeat, she said she had been ill three times during her captivity, but had received medication "almost immediately" each time, and recovered.

"I feel fine," said Tebbutt, who reportedly suffers from hearing problems.

"I've had absolutely no torture whatsoever. In fact, I've been made to feel as comfortable as possible by the pirates that are holding me."

It was not immediately clear if a ransom had been paid, but Somali elder Mohamud Ibrahim said negotiations had been ongoing since Tebbutt's capture, and that "expenses incurred during the captivity were very high".

A spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron said it was not government policy to pay ransoms. "Our position is that we do not pay ransoms and we do not facilitate concessions to hostage-takers," he said.

Asked whether officials had advised the family not to pay a ransom, he replied: "All I can say is that we have been in close contact throughout."

British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler, who were held hostage for more than a year after Somali pirates hijacked their yacht in the Indian Ocean, were freed in 2010 after paying a ransom.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tebbutt-says-son-secured-her-release-somalia-135750463.html

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