http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,210645,00.html

Captors Release Two FOX News Journalists Kidnapped in Gaza Aug. 14

Sunday , August 27, 2006

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Two FOX News journalists were released by their kidnappers Sunday, nearly two weeks after they were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.

The freeing of FOX correspondent Steve Centanni, 60, and cameraman Olaf Wiig, 36, ends the longest-running drama involving foreign hostages in Gaza.

Centanni, in a phone interview shortly after his release, said "I'm fine. I'm just so happy to be free."

He said he was so emotional because he was out and alive.

"There were times when I thought 'I'm dead,' and I'm not," Centanni said. "I'm fine. I'm so very happy."

He recounted how he and Wiig were pulled out of their car on August 14 and taken at gunpoint into another car. The kidnappers blindfolded them and handcuffed their hands behind their backs with plastic ties. They were then transferred to another car and driven to a building that they later learned was a garage.

"We were pushed down onto the dirt-covered concrete floor and we were forced to life face down with our handcuffs on," Centanni said.

"Olaf was in the same room with me. Our shoulders were wrenched back, very painful."

Both of the men were forced to convert to Islam at gunpoint, Centanni said.

Centanni's brother, Ken, spoke to FOX News directly after the news was released.

"It's just a tremendous amount of relief, overwhelming relief," he said.

The day had begun with promises by senior Palestinian officials that the two would be released in coming hours.

At the same time, the kidnappers released a new video, showing the hostages dressed in beige Arab-style robes. Wiig, of New Zealand, delivered an anti-Western speech, his face expressionless and his tone halting. The kidnappers claimed both men had converted to Islam.

Several hours later, the two men were dropped off at Gaza City's Beach Hotel. Now in Western-style clothing, Centanni and Wiig quickly walked through the lobby and rushed upstairs. A tearful Centanni briefly embraced a Palestinian journalist. Wiig briefly turned and appeared to yell at Palestinian security guards before heading upstairs.

The journalists were seized in Gaza City on Aug. 14.

Their captors, a previously unknown group calling itself the Holy Jihad Brigades, had demanded the release of all Muslims imprisoned by the U.S. It was not immediately clear whether the kidnappers received anything in return for freeing the journalists.

It also remained unclear whether the kidnappers were local militants, either with ties to Hamas or the rival Fatah movement, or sneaked into Gaza from outside. However, some Palestinian security officials said Sunday there were growing suspicions that the kidnappers were locals.

In the past two years, Palestinian militants have seized more than two dozen foreigners, usually to settle personal scores, but released them unharmed within hours. The holding of the Fox journalists had been the longest.

In the video released earlier Sunday, Wiig is seen sitting cross-legged on the floor and reading from crumpled notes. In the past, foreign hostages held in Iraq have said their captors coerced them into making statements.

In another segment, Centanni said he has converted to Islam and raised his index finger in an oath of allegiance to the religion.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

It may be hopping, but still, late night Fox News still sucks as hard as ever.