Paramedic Gerco van Deventer still in Algeria after release from Al-Qaeda captivity

18 December 2023 - 12:14
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Gerco van Deventer before being taken hostage in Libya. File photo.
Gerco van Deventer before being taken hostage in Libya. File photo.
Image: Bring Gerco Home via Facebook

The South African paramedic who has been released after being kidnapped in Libya six years ago is yet to come home from Algeria.

This was according to Gift of the Givers' Dr Imtiaz Sooliman on Monday. 

Gerco van Deventer was captured in Libya on November 3 2017 by a splinter group of Al-Qaeda before being “sold off” to the Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin (JNIM) Al-Qaeda group in Mali in 2018, making him the longest-held South African hostage in captivity. 

“He is still in Algeria. We have to await feedback from South African state security. He was sent for a medical review in a hospital in Algeria,” said Sooliman.

He said South African officials had learnt this from Algerian state security.

“We await the next step on his health and arrangements to bring him home to be reunited with his wife Shereen and son Asher. It has been six agonising years of prayer, patience and hope. May [he] return home soon safely.”

TimesLIVE


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