All language subtitles for Hostage s01e01.eng

I found this camera in Mosul.

EXPLOSION

John had the exact same camera.

This is the place where
John Cantlie was last seen.

He is still missing.

John Cantlie's story...

..is the story of
a very complicated...

..intelligent and driven man.

And a very controversial figure.

I didn't like John Cantlie.

That didn't mean that I didn't
grow to like what I knew of him

as I investigated him.

There's a mythology that's been
built around John Cantlie.

It's very Heart Of Darkness.

He has gone down the river and
no-one knows what happened to him.

This is the golden era of Jihad.

NEWS REPORT: The Islamic State
is now at war with the West.

One thing we can all agree on
is that a group like ISIL

has no place in the 21st century.

John went into the hornets' nest.

He wanted a proper story.

EXPLOSION

He went looking for British jihadis
in dangerous environments.

Was he on the verge
of an amazing story?

- NEWS REPORT:
- Journalists have become targets.

- NEWS REPORT:
- Scores of journalists are believed to have been kidnapped.

NEWS REPORT: John Cantlie is being
held by extremists from Islamic State.

We just were desperate
for information.

It was a mission
to find missing persons.

NEWS REPORT: Another
barbaric beheading,

another unwatchable video.

It became apparent
that he had not been beheaded.

Hello, my name is John Cantlie,

and the media hasn't had
a story as big as this

for a very long time, indeed.

Why not kill him like the rest?

People began to take the view that
he was a turned Islamic State asset.

What really did happen
to John Cantlie?

In 2011, a wave of protests
swept across North Africa

and the Middle East...

..first Tunisia, then Egypt...

..with people demonstrating
against their leaders.

Everyone is in the street.

They are cheering
that Mubarak's left.

Thank God that he did.

One by one, dictators are ousted.

I feel that I'm living
in a Hollywood movie,

not even an Egyptian movie.

I feel it's a movie.

In Libya, after
anti-government protests,

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has
started to fire on his own people.

We pray very hard for his fall.

This guy has to come out
and we ask the world to help us arm.

On the other side of the country,

a coalition of opposition
groups have formed,

determined to topple Gaddafi.

And journalists from the major news
organisations flock to the country...

..to uncover the reality
on the ground.

GUN FIRE

Listen to these crowds.
What are they shouting?

"Colonel Gaddafi is a coward",
they say.

"Come and attack us here in
the square."

No, no-one is against us.
Against me for what?

They love me, all my people
are with me. They love me all.

But if they do love you...

They will die to protect me,
my people.

You don't understand.

And the world doesn't understand
the system here.

I ended up in Libya.

I'd covered several conflicts
before.

I've worked a lot in Afghanistan.

Probably over the years,

I've spent more time
in Afghanistan than anywhere.

I covered the war a lot in Iraq.

Yeah, long road.

When the Arab Spring began,
I was in Africa.

Very quickly I got to Kenya,
got to Egypt,

and then drove through the desert
and got into Eastern Libya.

At the same time,
arriving is another group,

independent from the news networks.

The freelance journalists.

Banging tunes on Libyan FM!

This is 103.5.

Among them is John Cantlie.

A lot of very young guys
with a lot of guns.

John films his arrival,

recording a video in his self-shot
irreverent style.

He is a motorbike reporter
turned conflict photojournalist.

John travels out
to the rebel front line,

the most dangerous place to be.

But where he can witness
the war close up...

..and embed with rebels
fighting Gaddafi.

Not many journalists are travelling
this close to the front line.

EXPLOSION

Shit!

I spent a lot of time
with John in Somalia.

I remember thinking,
oh, he's like a kid.

Like a kid in a playground
playing commando.

I think he really loved the idea
of being a war photographer.

There is a nobility about
the pursuit of the story, right?

The truth, speaking truth to power.

But it's a dangerous job.

There was a vibrancy about him.

He had the most ridiculous flak
jacket I've ever seen in my life.

He had this flak jacket that looked
like it was in couture in Paris.

It was this tiny little flak jacket
that didn't fit him.

But I later found out that that's
because he couldn't afford a flak jacket.

During his time reporting
from the front line,

John records a series
of self-shot videos.

These films give an insight
into his journalistic style.

EXPLOSIONS

John also started working closely
with American reporter James Foley.

The two had become a tight team.

James Foley was a really good guy.

Yeah, I think so, yeah!

Jim is one of these people that you
meet...

..and you immediately
fall in love with, you know?

He was very kind, very fun.

It was a good time being around him.

The whole building
is a sniper heaven, huh?

John was another story.

He was noisy.

- In what way, what do you mean?
- Ah, he talked too much.

He took too much space.

He was actually fun, I believe.

Because people liked him, right?
I didn't. I didn't.

Why do you think he rubbed
some people up the wrong way?

The thing is he didn't rub me up
the wrong way. He didn't annoy me.

So you're going to have to ask
someone that he annoyed.

I actually thought he was all right.

- Here's Ali, who loves me.
- I love you, John. - There we go.

In the videos, you could see that
the rebels, they loved John.

Because he was this sort of person.

Annoying, making jokes,
all this kind of thing.

- John!
- There he is!

We went to the front lines...

..together, and once he didn't even
have a camera with him, you know?

And I felt like what is this guy
doing here without a camera?

HIP�HOP MUSIC

You can see from his videos
and his choice of music

that he was very excited to be
a journalist in the front line.

War has a tremendous pull.

War can be fun.

War can be, you know, absolutely
enthralling, captivating.

It can be horrific,

it can fuck everyone else up,
it can fuck you up too.

So you've got to be clear about
what it is that you are doing there.

I need to remind myself, I know
why I'm going to report on this war,

and I know why that is important
and I am a committed journalist.

And I'm committed enough
to go into a situation

where I understand
that I might be killed.

We were staying, all of us together,
in Gaddafi's home town.

Yeah, sure.

And when we get to the roof,
you need to stay down.

No, no, no, not stupid.

- Mari.
- Teacher.

Mari in England is a girl's name.

Name for girl.

You're a big girl!

Do you have a cigarette, Mari?

People who often wouldn't have been that
friendly or helpful towards the West before,

for a time that relationship
looked really good.

The West had a presence
here amongst journalists,

which very quickly translated into
Western air strikes against Gaddafi.

The Security Council has
authorised the use of force.

I'm delighted to be here
to show support

for the National
Transitional Council

for all they're doing in Libya.

I wanted to come
and congratulate them

and work out how we can help next
as they rebuild their country.

Sarkozy and I agreed that we
would go to Libya together

and that Britain and France
should stop Gaddafi

from murdering and massacring
his own people.

Gaddafi said very publicly

that he was going to shoot down
those people like rats.

So we had a choice,
Western countries like Britain.

Do we just stand back and let this
happen, or do we try and help?

There were people dressed
in combat gear with AK-47s

and the first one I met
said that he was from Luton

and he was a Libyan national
who lived in Britain

and had come out to volunteer
as part of the Libyan opposition.

People in Libya
wanted Gaddafi to go.

And also, let's not forget,
he had also supplied the IRA

with semtex that had killed
many people in Northern Ireland,

probably in mainland Britain too.

You know, he was a monster.

It is great to be here in free
Benghazi and in free Libya.

CHEERING

People in Britain salute
your courage!

It was an extraordinary visit
because you couldn't help

just getting sort of lifted up
by these crowds.

There was this seemingly genuine
upsurge in democratic feeling

and of course you had to be
careful not to be naive

and to recognise that democracy
is a process, not an event.

You can't just suddenly go
from autocracy to democracy

without it taking time,
but it was a time of some hope.

Today, David Cameron is visiting
what feels in many ways

like a completely
different country.

There is still serious fighting here
and plenty of political instability.

There are still
four key towns in this country

which are held by Gaddafi's forces.

Gaddafi was trying to escape.

NATO bombed his car and he survived.

The rebels got there...

GUN FIRE

..and he was actually
found by the mob.

He was wounded
and they tortured him.

When he was killed...

..this was the only time in my life

that I decided,
I don't want to photograph that.

And today I regret that because
I didn't photograph his body.

Everybody did,
but it was so grotesque, you know?

Everybody going and seeing
his body lying.

His son, you know.

They were lying, like mutilated
and very wounded and smelling dead.

Yeah, I said, wow, you know...

..they killed him, you know.

It was emptiness, yeah.

As Gaddafi is toppled,

John Cantlie shoots an immediate
report inside his compound.

Beautiful trees and gardens,
but beyond...

..in Tripoli, he was denying his...

..citizens pretty much
everything he could.

The compounds have become
a local tourist attraction.

And John knew how to capture
a quickly-unfolding story.

This is the inside
of the Mad Dog's compound,

after all the fighting
that's been going on.

I don't know what the graffiti says,
but I imagine it's...

..all about freedom.

Here's one of the men that did
all the hard work. Ha, ha.

John could shoot video
and he could edit.

And you can see in those videos that
he perhaps

saw the rebels' fight for their
own freedom as a noble struggle.

GUN FIRE

When Libya was finished we said,
where is the next?

Where is the next? Syria?
OK, let's go to Syria.

And Syria was a completely
different game.

Many people got hurt,
killed and kidnapped there.

President Assad and his father
have ruled Syria with an iron fist

for over 40 years.

But many Syrians are demanding
a change in leadership.

John Cantlie and James Foley
are making plans to head to Syria

as the situation escalates.

And it does.

Assad uses violence...

EXPLOSION

..indiscriminately targeting
his own people,

as well as aid workers
and journalists.

Marie Colvin of the Sunday Times

was among more than 20 people killed
in the Syrian city of Homs today.

Syria is becoming
extremely dangerous

and just a handful of foreign
journalists are going in.

I had a close relationship
with my foreign editor at the time,

and he was like, "We haven't
had anybody in Syria yet.

"Do you think you can get that?

"Can you meet up with rebel groups

"and talk to them about
what they're about,

"what they want
and how they're doing."

The rebels are a group called
the Free Syrian Army,

made up of many ordinary citizens
and military defectors

who have decided to pick up arms
and overthrow the regime.

I knew roughly where I should go,

which was southern Turkey
and then cross in on foot.

As well as Anthony Loyd,

John Cantlie and James Foley
are also making their way in...

..to find out more about the
rapidly-escalating civil war.

Close to the border,
there was this restaurant.

It's a nice supper,
it's like red wine, sea bass supper.

As I sat down,
I noticed a few tables away,

James Foley sitting down
with John Cantlie.

And actually James had his back
to me at that time

and John was facing me,

so I didn't go over.

But at some point,
James turned around and saw me

and got up and came over,
which was classic James Foley.

His warmth in meeting you
was kind of the same warmth

as someone who was having
the best moment of their day.

It was just like,
he made you feel great.

He said, "Are you coming out
or are you going in?"

I was like, "I'm going in."

So there was lots of,
"Oh, my brother."

And that was lovely.
And John didn't come over.

Why don't you think
he came and said hello?

Erm...

I know why I didn't go over
and say hello.

All I saw was this very macho,
loud, you know, blowing hard.

I find it distracting
and skews the energies.

I didn't realise it at the time,

but while he was trying to portray
himself as a successful journalist,

he wasn't.

He wasn't really financially
successful as a photographer,

even though he was
working with Getty.

He was in this kind of
weird freelance space

where he was trying to set up
his next foreign trip,

but trying to make ends meet in
the meantime.

He was projecting himself
as this big shot war photographer

and he wasn't really that, he was
a struggling freelance photographer.

In Turkey, John is preparing to
cross over the border into Syria

and turns the camera on himself.

I'm not going to show you where
I am, for obvious reasons.

It's part news package,
part video diary.

So apparently we're going
to be met around five.

We then get over the border,
a mix of walking and on horseback.

Syria was really, really dangerous.

And you'd have to go up
with a smuggler illegally.

We'd go through mountains,
perhaps olive groves.

And then you'd find coils of wire

and there'd be places that smuggler
knows to take you through the wire.

And you'd be avoiding
Turkish border guards,

who sometimes would be
shooting at people.

These smugglers, sometimes
they'd be Mr Nice Guy Smuggler,

but often we're talking about really
kind of feral, kind of messed up,

you know, like skinny, scrawny,
all that prison tattoos,

yeah, some feral people who
didn't really care about you.

They cared about the money.

The war was there
the moment you went in.

All around you, what you see,
what you felt - war.

It was scary stuff and you didn't
want the regime to get you, that was for sure.

You need to be sharp,
you need to be edgy,

you need to feel a bit sick
and hyper aware to go in and do it.

As a journalist you had to seek out
areas of resistance in which to work.

John's videos really captured
the people's plight.

The people here in Binnish
are certainly afraid of an attack,

but they also seem fairly upbeat at
the moment.

And they're certainly
still very vocal

in their hatred
of the Assad regime.

One of my friends he comes
to my home and he says,

"Mustafa, we have
a foreign journalist.

"They don't speak Arabic
so can you help us

"to understand what they are saying.

"They're American and British."

So, for the first time,
I meet James and John.

I enter and they say, "Do you
speak English?" I say, "Yes."

They say, "We're coming
to film Syria

"and show the world
what is going on."

I told them, "You are welcome."

I was so happy to see
a foreign journalist, you know?

We needed freedom,
we needed democracy.

No Assad any more, you know?

So we had lunch in my home.

And John asked me,
"Would you like to be our fixer?"

And James, directly, he answered.

He says, "Yes, Mustafa,
we would like."

He says, "We are very interested
to see these front lines

"and to film the checkpoints."

I told him, "This is very difficult.
We cannot go to the check points.

"The regime will
target us directly."

He says "Don't worry,
we can cover ourselves."

So I told them,
"OK, why not? Let's go."

I explained to them,
"Listen, James, John,

"we're going to the front line,

"but we have one way
to enter the city

"and the sniper
is targeting this way.

"So we will cross very fast.

"So maybe we'll get killed,
maybe injured.

"So do you agree with that?"

John, he says like,
"Let's go, yeah, let's go."

He looks like he's found
the treasure for him.

Like, OK, finally we are
in the front line,

not protesting, boring people,
like they're like shouting

and asking for freedom.

James, I told him,
"What about you, James?"

He says like,
"Sure, Mustafa, let's go."

On location,
this is James Foley for Global Post.

Outside cities and towns,
the army has set up checkpoints

where witnesses say snipers
shoot civilians

and Free Syrian Army rebels
seemingly indiscriminately.

This farmer said he and several
others

were shot at a checkpoint
near the city of Khan Shaykhun.

I was, like, really worried about
them.

I carry their responsibility.

Just in a car. I'm going from
Binnish to Saraqib.

We're taking all the back roads.

The driver here has been
absolutely brilliant,

phoning ahead to see if there are
checkpoints.

John was recording himself quite
a lot.

His shooting or, like, filming took
you

closer to the front lines
than anyone else.

The Syrian army...

Like, all the way asking me, "Where
is the sniper? Where is the sniper?"

And the sniper, I told him,
"Just wait. Wait."

He hoped to be shot.

But... He was fine, the sniper he
doesn't hit. Yeah.

John, he looked at me with, like,
a silly look.

He's like, "There is no weapons,
there is no sniper. Come on!"

You're like, "What you are talking
about?"

I told him, "Thanks God we are
alive. Come on. OK.

"We are...we are OK, we're fine. Why
you are, like, sad?"

He says, "No, you told me the sniper
will hit us, so nothing happened."

He was, like...upset of that.

Nearby, we watched as government
forces amassed...

John is with rebels in a town under
attack by the regime...

..and he's beginning to record more
professional reports

to sell to the news channels.

There's probably about 40 guys here
or so.

GUN FIRE

..which wasn't ideal.

We've now got a motorway directly
off our left,

which we can't cross because it's
a motorway.

There's a footbridge, but they've
got two T-72s

right there next to the footbridge.

So we've basically walked into...
a bad area.

So obviously it's time for tea
and lots of discussion

on "where is NATO?" and "we've only
got Kalashnikovs." But, erm...

..certainly so far with this group,
this is going nowhere. It's 9.30.

So the best thing to do is get
out of here as safely as we can.

John keeps recording, despite
the increasing risks.

We were surrounded. In this
situation, people are nervous.

John, when you see his face entering
the front line,

he's like a baby - you bring him
a present.

John is in the front of the tank
taking pictures,

and show me the pictures he says,
like,

"Mustafa, this is a Russian tank."

And the tank was, like, doing, like,
this, you know? Like, to hit him.

And the tank hit. He got shrapnel in
his shoulder.

He got...he got shot by shrapnel.
He doesn't care about that.

He was laughing. He's like, "I got
shot! I got shot!"

That's it.

But he teach me a lot about, like,
photography, how to steal your shot.

Like sometimes, you know, like,
trying to take pictures,

he stopped my camera. He says, like,

"What is that shitty photo you're
taking?" And, like, yeah.

So he pushed me a lot...

..and he really support me.

He's the one who's, like, trying to
tell me,

"You have a great eye, Mustafa. This
is a nice shot."

And, "This is, this photo. This
photo." And he says, like,

"Mustafa, you are stealing my career
now in Syria, so go ahead." Yeah.

Seven people were killed
and 28 wounded,

and afterwards came the burials,
the martyrs -

those killed in their homes or in
defence of their town.

John filmed a funeral,

and you can really see his empathy
for the Syrian people.

He was, like, affected to see
massacres and to see people killed.

He was, like, feeling sad sometimes,

and, like, feeling painful about
people.

We left, and the army controlled
the city.

So, we left the area.

As the war becomes unpredictable,
edgier, fractured,

new rebel groups emerge, all of
them anti-Assad regime,

but with different ideologies.

Among them, jihadist factions - many
connected to Al-Qaeda...

..some Syrian fighters.

But there's a new group - foreigners
from the west.

We've got a lot of foreign
jihadists there,

and some really radical elements.

You didn't really want to start
engaging too much, you know?

There's just some dangerous
people there.

Basically, the rule was

you don't look at each other and you
don't talk. Yeah.

While crossing the border, John
encounters one of the new groups.

I remember John, he was, like,

crossing the border without me and
James.

And he disappeared.

Me and a friend of mine...we were,
like, trying to find him.

We figured out he got kidnapped by
a group.

They are, like, a very extremely
jihadist group.

I got a call from the foreign desk
saying,

"John Cantlie's been taken."

I just remember just being stunned.

I remember just thinking, "There is
no way back from that."

You know? I thought that was...
that was going to be it for him.

But after a week, and to everyone's
relief, he escapes.

And on his return to the UK, he
tells his story to Scotland Yard.

I was asked to go and attend
a debrief

from somebody who's been
kidnapped and escaped.

There were people from
the government there,

the spies were there

and there were some military
personnel

all gathered around this big
horseshoe table.

And on the screen was the interview.

It was John Cantlie - the name
didn't mean anything at the time.

And I was like, "Oh, OK."

So John told his story in a lot of
detail.

I was in Syria.

We passed through a camp which was
inhabited by Islamic Jihadists.

They had said initially that they
just wanted to check

who we were and then we'd be let on
our way.

Then we're led into another tent,
we're handcuffed to other prisoners.

You've got a blindfold on,

you've got guys sticking a gun in
your head.

At one point, they started
sharpening the knives

for a beheading.

And where were they from?

They were not from Syria. They were
from anywhere BUT Syria.

They were from Bangladesh, they were
from Pakistan,

- they were from the UK.
- How many from the UK?

Probably about between ten or 15
young Jihadis from the UK.

Well, I mean, this is extraordinary
to hear.

Everybody in the room was really
interested in John's story.

There was an interest in the fact
that

there were British people over there

who'd been taken by people with
British accents.

My boss had been involved in Iraq
when that had happened,

and so he could already see that
there was a potential.

We had had a Westerner kidnapped...

..were we going to have more?
What did that look like?

What might happen to this country?

Could you tell, were they British
Asians or British Syrians?

I mean, do you know what
their origins were?

British Asian origin, but as I say,
some merely spoke English

but some were actually from England,
you know?

I mean, some were so English
they didn't even speak Arabic.

- And at one point, they sharpened
knives. - Yes.

Well, that was after we tried to
escape

on that second full day when we'd
been moved to this larger tent.

There was a big rip in the back of
this tent.

We stepped out the back of the tent,
in the rip,

and just ran for our lives.

It wasn't a particularly good plan.
There wasn't a plan!

We were just trying to
literally run for our lives.

Unfortunately, we were spotted
after about 300 metres

and that's when they opened fire.

It felt like 200 bullets just
coming down around just like hail.

How were you able to break out in
the end?

Well, we were freed by units
of the Free Syrian Army.

So they were appalled at what had
happened to us.

Word got out, and four guys came in,

two with Kalashnikovs, two with
pistols,

and literally bust us out of there.

It's a huge story. Bam! It's
everywhere.

He writes about it at length for
the Sunday Times,

and it's just the most, you know,
mesmerising read.

These guys who kidnapped John
were not fighters.

They were wannabe fighters.

One of them is an NHS doctor,
Dr Shajul Islam.

He writes about Shajul Islam

as somebody who was not into
the kidnap situation,

who seems, I think from reading
about it after,

is fairly apologetic to John about
what's going on at the time.

John was treated by a doctor who is
British.

And I remember listening to people
talking about that

and an investigation that could
follow up

if that British doctor were to come
back to the UK.

John was very proud of himself,
and he wanted to tell me.

He'd escaped, got shot, and was
stood outside

the front of my house...with
a bandage on!

We met on an India trip in
the Himalaya for veterans,

which had been set up by a very
mutual friend of ours.

I found him incredibly eccentric,
interesting,

and somebody that had a really dry
wit

but also was clearly a consummate
professional.

And after he'd been captured,
he wanted a proper story.

He wanted to go and embed himself
with these British jihadis

to tell the truth about something
that was really fast unfolding

and he was going back with
James Foley.

I joined the army at 16. I then
later ended up in special forces.

So me and a friend of mine tried to
give him some avoidance training.

It was very basic. We used
a Land Rover in a field.

How to use a car appropriately. How
to get in the car, locking doors.

And we did conduct after-capture
training,

so how to behave when you've been
caught,

how to make yourself useful, and how
to be amenable and valuable.

And John was really interested in
that.

As soon as he told me he was going,
I told him he was an idiot.

And so he had to take this little
brick around with him,

this tracking beacon, which I made
him take.

But I knew then, as I do now, there
was no point trying to stop him.

Syria had really got under John's
skin as a story.

He was adamant that he was
going to go back.

Going back into Syria with the same
flak jacket that didn't fit him,

and, you know... But maybe with some
new cameras this time.

And I remember just thinking... I
said,

"It's really reckless to do that.
I think you're making a mistake."

I said, "If you think you are going
to get recognition..."

He said, "It's the story."

He was just saying, "I'm going
to go back, I'm going to go back."

But it was a mantra, the way he was
saying it.

It was like he was possessed, you
know?

It's like, "I'm going back,
you know, I'm going back."

Will you go back?

I've got to get this hand sorted,
but, yes, absolutely.

The people, the Syrian people, are
amazing.

And it's my job. I don't really know
how to do anything else.

Thank you for coming and talking to
us and we wish you the best of luck.

As John plans his return to Syria...

..Assad's violence against his
people is intensifying.

I hadn't met Assad, I hadn't
been to Syria...

..but there was appalling
destruction of cities like Aleppo.

Appalling levels of casualties...

..and added to that, an enormous
refugee crisis.

You know, I felt, as the UK Prime
Minister, we needed to do more.

The only way out of Syria's
nightmare

is to move forward towards political
transition

and not to give up the cause of
freedom.

The future for Syria is a future
without Assad.

We must now join together to support
a rapid political transition.

Thank you.

What I wanted was for Britain
and allies

and particularly America to support
the Free Syria Army.

There was a Syrian national
opposition,

a coalition of forces that included

Sunnis and Shias and Kurds and
Christians,

who were trying to build a different
future for their country.

And obviously the Arab states were
encouraging us to do this,

and so we had to act as urgently as
we could.

James, Mustafa and John head to
Aleppo,

Syria's second city, where there is
intensive fighting.

They embed with
the Free Syrian Army.

Me and James and John, we decide to
go to Aleppo.

The Free Syrian Army, they took
the Western Aleppo.

The neighbourhoods and the houses
are, like, very close to each other.

So the regime in this house and the
opposition in this house,

so you can see them in front of you

and they're, like, jumping on the
roofs.

They're, like, fighting, like, very
closely.

The Free Syrian Army tried to
give me a weapon.

They offer me a bomb grenade.

They told me, "Like, just keep
it in your pocket.

"Like, maybe if we are, like,
surrounded, all of us,

"and we got killed, at least you
protect yourself."

- INTERPRETING:
- This is a bomb, a handmade bomb here, made in Syria...

I told him, "No, I'm not, like...
I'm not using weapons."

I told him, "OK, I will kill you
all.

"Maybe I will take it and throw it
like this."

He says, "OK, no need."

I was watching very closely John
and James, how they are behaving.

James used to call me "bro",
and I loved this.

"Hey, bro." Yeah...

James the one who, like,
writing everything.

Like, when we stop anything,
he notes,

trying to steal the...the moments.

I saw a video when James filmed
a wedding

between a nurse and a young
Free Syrian Army fighter.

James was really drawn to this
kind of, er...story...

..that, in war, people try their
best to continue their lives

despite the condition they find
themselves in.

THEY SING

While John was looking to learn more

about the presence of British
jihadis in Syria...

We ask the Free Syrian Army to
go to the front line...

..and they told us, "We have our
front line as a Free Syrian Army

"and they have their front lines.

"Who they are? They are the jihadist
group."

And they said, like, "So stay with
us,

"because jihadists, they don't
like foreigner journalists."

When you guys cut it, try not to
make it look worse than it is.

We were in Aleppo.

You see a bomb.

I think a building got hit, and I
got hit by shrapnel.

My head was broken twice.

I met many foreign people in Syria.

They didn't come to any...to join
the fight, or something like this.

They came in the beginning.

For example, doing...voluntary work
and things like this.

I lived in the UK since 2000.

I went to University of
East London - civil engineering.

But on TV you're seeing a lot of
crazy stuff

and there's many videos on YouTube,
also.

People beating people, people living
in the camps,

and you just see many different
things.

So I was thinking... You know,

"you know, I'm just going to go
there."

In the beginning, many of the people
that came,

they came for a good cause.

But in the end, you might find
the guy with the weapon.

I don't know what happened.
I cannot explain it to you.

You know, things happen and things
get out of hand.

People start killing people and
stealing from people and...

..doing crazy stuff.

Nero Saraiva is accused of being
a senior jihadist recruiter,

fundraiser and member of
a snipers' unit.

In the press, the Portuguese press
described you

as the leader of the foreign unit.
Is that true?

No.

You've put me on a...on...on a very,
very high thing.

I'm a simple guy, and... A normal
guy, a simple guy.

I didn't do many...many of
the things that people say I did.

I don't think it's even true.

- Did you ever meet John Cantlie?
- John Cantlie? No, no. I never saw him.

I have nothing to do with
John Cantlie,

but I know that things happened to
him.

He got kidnapped and things like
this, but I don't know the guy.

In Syria, everybody's trying to film
and things.

There were journalists everywhere.

Now look carefully for him.

We will walk the same way
he do it. OK?

It's very dangerous.

All this area is targeted by
the regime snipers.

The leader told us more than 20
people was killed in this area.

Stay there, stay there, stay there!

We need to run very fast.

So there's, like, seven members of
the Free Syrian Army. They cross.

THEY TALK

And from the other side, they said,
like,

"OK, we are safe, we are safe.
Come."

I told John, "Are you ready?"

He says, like, "You go and I'm
waiting for you here.

"Don't worry about me."

And we start to run, me and James.

- OK, go.
- INDISTINCT DIALOGUE

John, he was walking very slowly

and he was, like, doing for the
sniper like this. "Hey! I am here!"

Oh, my God! He's, like...

The leader was shouting and swearing
against him.

I ask him, "John, can you please
explain to me what's going on?

"Why you are putting yourself at
risk?"

He says, "Mustafa, you are, like,
almost 15 people.

"you cross the road and nothing
happened.

"Even the sniper, he doesn't, like,
target you. There is no sniper."

That's it.

Lay down and run.

- Let's go.
- There is an airplane - hurry.

We went to the front line with the
Free Syrian Army...

..shooting photos and videos.

Suddenly, I miss John.

Where is John?

I ask Jimmy, "Where is John?"

He says, "I don't know. Where's
John? No-one knows."

One guy, he told us,

"I saw that guy, that British guy.
He went to the... That house."

It was a huge house with
holes in the wall.

All the fighters inside, they are
Jabhat al-Nusra - Al-Qaeda.

So, John was in the house
of a jihadist group.

So, I go to the...
to that house.

I see a jihadist with a beard,

and say, like, "Asalamu alaikum".
"Wa alaikumsalaam."

"Have you seen any,
like a journalist,

"like, foreigner journalist?"

He says, "Yes. He's upstairs." Yeah.

I told him, "Can I call him?
Can I talk to him, please?"

He said, "Yes. Yeah, go on."

I entered the room.

John was surrounded by, like,
more than 15 men -

men of, like, jihadist -

and they're attacking him
with questions.

"Do you know John Cantlie,
the one who was on the TV?"

And he was like, "No, I don't."

They are speaking English,
most of them.

All of them, in front of them,
their Kalashnikov.

For me, it was like,
they already knew him,

but they're trying, you know,
to scare him, you know?

Because he's in their hands.

I Look at his face, I says, like,
"Johnny, what are you doing here?"

They asked me, "Who are you?"

I told him, "He's my friend.
Let's go."

Thank God, the group of
Free Syrian Army,

they come to the door.

The Jihadists,
they don't want trouble,

and John was released.

We go outside, I was, like, shouting
with him.

Blaming him.
"John, what are you doing?"

John, he felt like a baby
when he comes to his mother

to protect him, you know, like,
"Finally, I-I'm OK."

He says, "Mustafa,
let's move, let's move.

"We have to leave this area."

I told him, "I'm not going
to stay any moment here.

"Me and James, we are leaving."

We left Aleppo.

OFF-CAMERA: Why do you think John
keeps being in this position?

For me, when I ask him,
he says, like,

they are like very interested
to film them,

to show, like...the Western media,

there is, like, jihadist groups,
whatever. So...

So, this was the 19th of November,
2012, 0929 hours.

"Hi, Kev, I just came out of Aleppo.

"I'm back in Turkey for a few days
before going back to Syria,

"this time further south,
in Idlib province,

"to meet my old UK contacts."

I remember him being committed
to meeting people in London

who were setting this up.

OFF-CAMERA: Setting what up?

Setting up these meetings for him.

He was connected to people in London
and in the UK that were

helping him understand why and how

these young men from the UK
were forming part of

this fundamentalist movement.

That was the thing
he was interested in.

That was the thing
he wanted to understand.

Yeah.

So, John sent a message to Kev,

saying he was going back in to meet
British -

meet his UK associates.

It was a very strange message
to write, yeah.

Now, the implication of that
is that he's going back in to try

and meet up with some of
the British jihadis who

he'd encountered the first time.

But why would he...

Why would he've wanted to do that?

It's quite strange that he decided
to put that in a text message

for a start, number one.

It's kind of like, don't say that
kind of stuff in a text message.

Number two -
it's probably not true.

I don't think that John would've
maintained a relationship

with people who, one minute,
are trying to saw his head off.

What are you going to do, text
and say, "I'm coming back.

"Do you want an interview?"

I think, it's kind of...
not what you're trying to do.

Did John,
for everything I've just said,

want to try and pursue that story
of foreign jihadis,

or start speaking to
foreign jihadis?

Yeah, for sure he did,
and we know that,

cos he went to Aleppo and got
himself into a room with

a whole lot of foreign jihadis.

You've got to remember,
as a freelancer,

you go into really
dangerous environments -

because often, that's how
the best stories are broken.

Back in Syria, the story that
John has been chasing

is much closer to him
than he thinks.

We decided to go to
the internet cafe in Binnish,

to upload everything we have.

John, he's like talking to all
the people around him.

A man was, like, coming into
the internet cafe with a big beard.

And John, he shout,
"Hey, Che Guevara"!

And the guy, he looked at him,
like, very weird look,

very strange.

James, he was a bit worried.

He says, like,
"John, what are you doing?

"Hey, shut up, please."

The man sat five minutes,
and then, he left.

After he leaves, we go to the taxi.

There was, like, several taxis
in front of the internet cafe.

We asked him to go to the border.

And suddenly, there was a van.

They moved, like, with us.

So, when they move,
they open the door.

There was, like, masked people.

They have Kalashnikovs.

The taxi driver, he wants to stop.

John, he was asking him,
"Don't stop."

He's, like, hitting
the chair of the driver.

"Go fast, go faster, go faster.
Mustafa, please ask him."

And then, I ask him to go faster.

But they blocked the way,

and the taxi driver was
forced to stop.

And they start shouting,
"Get out of the car."

One of them, he took me out.

He was like shouting,
just to lay down on the ground.

But James and John, they don't
understand what's going on.

I have a scarf on my neck.

He took it, one of them.

He took the scarf, and he asked me
to tie their hands,

er, John's hands.

I told him,
"I'm not going to do it."

They were, like,
carrying the weapons,

and they start to shoot.

And he was like shouting, asking me,
forcing me to do that.

So, I was forced to tie John's hand.

Yeah.

And I was telling him,
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

"I'm sorry, John."

Yeah.

And John, he was like saying,
"Please, Mustafa, not again.

"I don't want to be in
this situation again." Yeah.

Yeah.

So, yeah, it was
very difficult to me,

and so hard, painful to tie
your friend's hands.

HE SIGHS SHAKILY

But I couldn't do anything.

I tried to, like...

They took me to the car.

Me and James, and John,
they asked me -

they asked them also,
like, to the van.

I remember the van was
full of diesel.

And they put us, like,
I was full of diesel in the van,

and one of them,
he took me from my shirt.

And he asked me,
"What is your name?"

And I told him my name.

He said, "Where are you from?
From Binnish, you told me."

I told him, "Yes."

He says, "You leave.
We don't need you."

But I told him, "I need my friend.
I will go with them."

He says like, "Last time,
seriously, if you don't move,

"if you do not leave with your
taxi driver, I'll kill you."

Yeah, he was like very serious.

Yeah, and the taxi driver
was asking me,

"Mustafa, just leave.

"Like, they're going to kill you.
Just leave them.

"They're telling you they will
ask them some questions,

"and they will leave." Yeah.

When their car was targeted,
John's beacon went off.

It has, you know,
an emergency response on it.

And then, it sends out a signal
to all your contacts.

My primary role is dealing
with crisis.

Kidnappings, hostage-taking,
piracy, disappearing people,

threat, extortion.

PHONE RINGS

I received a phone call from
the employer of James Foley,

who asked me if I was available
to go to Turkey.

And I said, "Sure,"
and deployed immediately.

You take out a policy
with an adviser that,

when something like this happens,

you have access to people
with specialised knowledge

about how to deal with it.

We knew that James was travelling
with John Cantlie,

and they were together.

My focus was getting them back.

When they disappeared,
I cannot believe that.

NEWSREADER: John Cantlie, believed
to be being held by extremists.

The Three Beatles
heavily tortured us.

John Cantlie was very brave.

He wasn't afraid of anything.

I think they respected him.

NEWSREADER: The Jihadis are holding
many more foreign hostages.

We were desperate for
information about James.

They had sent this horrific email.

The were asking for millions
and millions of dollars.

We would not pay ransoms
to terrorists.

There is no negotiation.

We come through the fucking door,
kill you all, and get everyone out.

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