Special Lyse Doucet ‘Held Hostage in Syria’ will air Saturday, June, 11 at 2:00pm ET replacing Hardtalk and Click. It will repeat Sunday, June 12 at 7:00 am ET replacing Hardtalk and Assignment.

Program Description: 

Speaking together for the first time, four European hostages of so-called Islamic State talk to Lyse Doucet about their period of incarceration between March 2013 and June 2014.

Aid worker Federico Motka, journalists Didier Francois and Daniel Rye, and blogger Pierre Torres were all held for between 10 and 14 months each. This is their first reunion since they were freed, at different times, two years ago, and is a celebration of friendship forged in the most threatening of circumstances. They talk about the months without sunlight, weeks chained together, days upon days of beatings. There was little food, and so much longing for clean clothes, a proper toilet, and most of all, freedom.

They all found their own way of coping with the situation. Federico Motka lowered his gaze and raised his guard to avoid his captors’ efforts to demean him. Didier Francois pushed back and stared them straight in the eye. Daniel Rye, an elite gymnast, did the splits to convince them he was not a spy, and Pierre Torres took beatings, but satisfaction, from ignoring their orders.

Broadcast Details:
Saturday, June 11th; 2:00 -2:59pm ET
Sunday, June 12th; 7:00 – 7:50am ET
Broadcast window: 11 – 25 June 2016
Program duration: 49 minutes 30 seconds (23 minutes & 26 minutes 30 seconds) or 59 minutes including the News Bulletins, billboards & promos

www.bbc.co.uk/partners/english/programmes/held-hostage-in-syria