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Six Years as an al-Qaeda Hostage

Stephen McGown's dream trip turned into a nightmare when he was kidnapped by al-Qaeda.

In 2011, Stephen McGown was an enthusiastic motorbike rider who had just set out on what he thought would be the trip of a lifetime. He was newly married and planned to travel from the UK to his home in South Africa. But when he got to Mali, he fell into the hands of al-Qaeda. His ordeal lasted almost six years and he has only recently been released. (Picture credit: Gulshan Khan.)

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14 minutes

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