AMMAN: The two US journalists who were released by Syria on Thursday were quoted yesterday by the paper they worked for, the Jordan Times, as saying they were “kidnapped and taken by force into the Syrian territory.”
Taylor Luck, 23, and Holli Chmela, 27, arrived back in Jordan yesterday after Syrian authorities handed them over to the US Embassy in Damascus.
The two journalists arrived in Lebanon on Sept. 29 for a vacation, but went missing on Oct. 1, when they reportedly left Beirut for Byblos and Tripoli.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry said Thursday that the two US citizens entered Syria “illegally” with smugglers and did not obtain entry visas.
The pair told Jordan Times that they were “kidnapped by a taxi driver and an accomplice” who were supposed to take them to the Lebanese-Syrian border crossing where they intended to obtain visas and complete their vacation in Syria before returning to Jordan by land.
“We had planned to take a bus from Tripoli to Homs, but the bus station was closed and a taxi driver offered to take us across the border, saying he was licensed to make such trips,” they said.
“He took us with another driver and on the way went off the main road,” Luck said. “I asked him where the border was but he did not answer. As he continued driving, he locked the car doors and asked us to hand over our money, but we refused to give him anything,” he added. “At that moment, a military car showed up and pulled him over and without a word took our bags, passports and cell phones and took us into their vehicle,” Luck said.
The two journalists said that they did not reveal their profession to the Syrian authorities and told them they were just tourists. The Syrian police told them they would take them to a bus station in Homs, but their destination was in fact a prison, where they both were held for eight days.
It was not clear why the pair expected to obtain a tourist visa at the Syrian border. US citizens have to go through lengthy bureaucratic paperwork to get permission to travel to Syria. There are additional obstacles for journalists, who also have to acquire advance permission from the Syrian Information Ministry.
