ITN exclusive: Paul and Rachel Chandler, the British couple kidnapped by Somali pirates, have used their first full television interview in captivity to congratulate David Cameron on his election victory and to seek the backing of Britain’s new government in securing their freedom.
Paul Chandler, a 60-year-old retired civil engineer, said: “I’d like to say congratulations to David Cameron first. And as new prime minister, we desperately need him to make a definitive public statement of the government’s attitude to us.
“If the government is not prepared to help, then they must say so, because the gangsters’ expectations and hopes have been raised at the thought of a new government and there might be a different approach.”
The retired couple from Tunbridge Wells were enjoying the yachting holiday of a lifetime last October when they were kidnapped by pirates in the Indian Ocean just off the Seychelles, hundreds of miles from Somalia.
They have been held for more than seven months and reveal on Channel 4 News tonight that almost half their time in captivity has been spent away from each other in solitary confinement.
At first the pirate gang demanded a huge ransom for their release, though they have since said they are open to negotiation. It is official British government policy not to pay ransoms to kidnappers.
Last Thursday the Chandlers were allowed to talk relatively freely to a freelance Somali journalist, Jamal Osman. The couple were driven to a secret location in windswept Somali scrubland, somewhere between the towns of Adado and Haradhere and miles from any human settlement. The Chandlers were escorted by around 10 pirates travelling in two 4×4 cars, all the men heavily armed and refusing to be filmed.
Yet in the interview, which lasted over an hour, the hostages openly defy their captors standing all around them.
“This is not piracy and must not be reported as such,” Mr Chandler said. “It is kidnapping and extortion and even torture.”
“We are just animals to them,” explained his wife Rachel, a 56 year old economist. “We have been kept caged up like animals. They don’t care about our feelings and our family and our lives and what they’ve taken. They don’t care whose lives they ruin. They just want the money.
“They don’t understand that we are just ordinary people. They think we come from a rich country and that if they point a gun at us and threaten us that we will find a way of raising money.”
After being held for months against their will in one of the most lawless countries on earth, the couple seem remarkably resilient and in reasonable health.
Paul Chandler revealed that 97 of their more than 200 days in captivity had been spent apart, something they have found particularly difficult after 30 years of marriage: “We don’t have children so we’re very close to each other. We’ve never been apart for more than a few days. We’ve been married almost 30 years, so to be separated is real torture.”
“They never tell us what’s happening next,” added Rachel. “Especially when we were isolated, when we were on our own, simply not knowing what was happening and whether we would be together again – when, where each other was, was real torture, mental torture.”
Rachel was last filmed in January, when she had clearly lost weight and was in distress. Since then, news reports have suggested she was raped or shot, but this appears to have been a mix of pirate propaganda and media hype.
When they were filmed last week, the couple said they have enough medicine and food, with the pirates serving up local dishes including goat’s liver, a Somali delicacy. Although they constantly live in fear of being separated again.
Last October, the Chandlers were kidnapped by pirates in the Indian Ocean just off the Seychelles, hundreds of miles from Somalia. Freelance Somali journalist, Jamal Osman, met the couple at a secret location somewhere between the towns of Adado and Haradhere and miles from any human settlement.
“The second time we were separated we refused to be separated initially, and that was a bit silly,” said Paul. “We were physically separated, we were whipped and Rachel was hit with a rifle butt and has a broken tooth.
“It’s a long time ago, the wounds have healed. And that was the only occasion, only one occasion, when we had any real aggression.”
‘A laughing stock’
Rachel says that it is still the capture and looting of their yacht, the Lynn Rival, which they had sold their house to buy, which upsets her most. “I can’t think about it without bringing tears to my eyes….having to abandon her was the very worst experience, and when I realised that nothing would ever be the same again.”
What pains the Chandlers even more is that a Royal Navy refuelling ship, the Wave Knight, was just a hundred metres or so away when the pirates were aboard the yacht. Though instead of storming the boat and risking casualties, the British sailors kept away.
“The fact that we’re alive and talking to you suggests that they were right to do what they did,” Paul acknowledged.
“But it really makes them – the whole, that fleet of warships – a laughing stock and that is what they are, a laughing stock for these people. They can’t do anything.”
Jamal Osman, who interviewed the Chandlers, describes his experience:
While I knew at the back of my mind that these gunmen could kill me, I had to approach them, not as criminals, but as people with important and interesting information.Since the gangs are not politically motivated, their interest in the Chandlers is the hope that at some point they will get millions in ransom money. This particular gangs seemed experience in kidnapping and one of them told me that it was his third such case.
Credit to the Chandlers, I was very impressed with them and the way they are coping with this horrific ordeal. In particular, Rachel seemed resilient. The gangs were even complaining about her determination not to be terrorized.
One of them said: “If you tell Rachel to do something, she will ask why. Sometimes she becomes aggressive toward our boys. She wants to control us.”
Though the pirates holding the Chandlers may not give up without a fight, the hostages find the courage to condemn their kidnappers outright on camera.
“They show no compassion as you and I would understand it”, Rachel said. “They are only interested in us as a vehicle for raising money, and their only interest is in keeping us alive in order to do so.”
“We are old enough to be the grandparents of most of the people in the gang,” said Paul. “But, you know, we can’t communicate with them, we can’t say to them ‘how would you like it if your grandparents were taken away to another country, separated, kept in solitary confinement?’”
The Chandlers’ daily challenge is filling time. Never knowing when or where they will be moved next, as the pirates evade any attempt to rescue them. The couple say they have a small supply of books and play cards endlessly, even brushing their teeth for up to ten minutes on end, just to survive the tedium of hostage life.
“The only thing that is difficult is the lack of privacy,” Rachel said. “But I am now so used to them that I just go and find a bush to wash and use the toilet. And if they see me, that’s their problem. I have to make do and, you know, one does.”
The broadcast interview ends with an appeal to the couple’s families to keep their spirits up back home. “We are being strong for them because they keep us going,” says Rachel.
“We know they are doing their best. It has been seven months and we know they must have been suffering alongside us, and we care about them very much.”
“There’s one thing that is important and that is freedom” concludes Paul. “We don’t have it. Nothing else matters really. We don’t miss any thing. We miss everything. We miss the ability to walk out of the door and determine our own lives, wrongfully taken from us.”
Foreign Office statement:
A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said: “Paul and Rachel Chandler are innocent tourists. They were sailing their yacht when taken hostage by a criminal gang seven months ago. The UK government’s policy of not making or facilitating substantive concessions to hostage-takers, including the payment of ransoms, is long-standing and clear. This has been the policy of successive governments and has not changed.“Our thoughts are with their families on the release of this video, and our consular officials are in close touch with them. We again urge those holding Paul and Rachel to release them safely, immediately and unconditionally.”
Clearly it would be quite wrong for the Government to show any sign of giving in to such demands, as to do so would encourage others to take British citizens hostage.
Now I understand the Chandlers own property in this country. Is there any reason why this cannot be sold, in order to pay their ransom?
Your suggestion should surely be seen as giving in to the gangsters’ demands. In any case, do you know that the sale of the Chandlers’ property would cover the ransom demand? Are they so well off?
The Government’s agreement would possibly be required in order for any sum to be paid, however raised. Perhaps someone could be found to convey such funds into such a lawless area, but what guarantee would there be that the money would reach the intended gangsters?
Might it be possible to arrange the release of the Chandlers in cohorts with the release of the crew of another vessel currently being held? Ther’s no shortage of moneyfor the release of foreign tankers. Perhaps the Foreign Office could find a way of linking incidents, so long as the two gangs could be presuaded to work together and trust each other.
Your suggestion should surely be seen as giving in to the gangsters’ demands. In any case, do you know that the sale of the Chandlers’ property would cover the ransom demand? Are they so well off?
The Government’s agreement would possibly be required in order for any sum to be paid, however raised. Perhaps someone could be found to convey such funds into such a lawless area, but what guarantee would there be that the money would reach the intended gangsters?
Might it be possible to arrange the release of the Chandlers in cohorts with the release of the crew of another vessel currently being held? There seems to be no shortage of money for the release of foreign tankers. Perhaps the Foreign Office could work with a foreign government to find a way of linking incidents – so long as the gangs could be persuadded to work together and trust each other.
afaik, their only substantial asset was their yacht (which they sold their house to buy). So ironically their kidnappers abandoned the only asset that the chandlers owned.
The pirates have taken many ships and people over the years, when money was paid they all been released. The money can be raised without the government’s help, and we do what the others before us did. We just can’t let our citizens suffer or die in that horrible place.
Is there any reason why us a country cannot do whats best for them? I think the chandlers will agree to sell anything to help get the money for the somalia gang so they can be set free! what you need to remember is if it was you in that situation then you would hope anyone and everyone will try and help you and your family to set you free un harmed. The chandlers have been out there for months now and they are looking very drained and very ill. if you cared about this country and the people that live in the country then you will find a conclusion to set them free.
I believe the Government should send in a covert team of armed forces to get these people out. Surely we have the skill and resources to do this. Such action would send the necessary message to the pirates,i.e., don’t mess with us, and reduce the future risk to UK citizens.
I feel ashame of the British government. Obviously you dont care about british people. I will never support anything british again!
Greger from Sweden
This is a terrible crime and we feel so sorry for the people taken. However, to remunerate these pirates, by any means, is to be complicit in the crime. Sadly we must consider these people dead. Any other option other than an armed effort to recover them, and we might as well issue T-shirts to western tourists to the 3rd world that say “Take Me. I am worth money and my countrymen will pay”. My condolences to the families.
In this video the Chandlers seem to be quite well and even cheerful. Mr. Chandler constantly laughs. So long as the British government see that these people are doing fine and their lives are not in immediate danger, they will take longer to try to negotiate with the pirates. I can see that these people are going to have to get used to being held hostage as the government is going to delay their rescue for maybe years. Hang on in there guys, while the British government discuss at great length with each other what can or could or might be done while taking regular breaks for tea and biscuits! I actually think the Chandlers’ best bet would be to try to escape under cover of night run for the hills!
I agree with Bill, you simply cannot remunerate the pirates, there has to be an act of force. We supposedly have the most elite fighting forces in the world, if it was a British diplomat the government would not think twice in a rescue attempt. In itself an act of force to rescue British citizens would surly act as a deterrent and therefore create future security for all British citizens weather diplomats or not!
I think most people would give money towards the ransom and get these people home. Their experience would be enough to deter anyone else from travelling in these areas.
If the Government wont help then let the public do it. The Chandlers have suffered enough. Someone must help them.
I think this is an absolute disgrace and embarassment to the uk country.
Tax paying law obiding citizens and when they need their country to help them… nothing.
Is it impossible to rescue them by using the SAS . .. don’t think so. – Imagine if the couple captured were of royal descent, I’m sure they wouldn’t be there in excess of 250 days still being held captive with no signs of help from the goverment.
Complete and utter disgrace.
Imagine several of your neighbors coming into your garden and picking all your best vegetables, then dumping used motor oil on the rest. How would you feel?
Of course, for most of us there is recourse through criminal and civil court, but on a national scale, there was no recourse for Somalia when the world decided illegally fish her waters, and dump their toxic waste off her shores.
What recourse did Somalia have? Her house was in shambles and she unable to defend herself from the wolves.
So, what could the fishermen of Somalia do? They could whither, or they could turn their fishing boats into pirate ships, and seek their own “justice”.
I’m not apologizing for the Somali pirates, or providing justification for anyone who returns evil for evils received.
I just want to point out that we’ve made this problem ourselves. As long as we the countries, the corporations, and the individuals enrich ourselves at the expense of our less fortunate neighbors we should expect, and arguably deserve, such results.
-kf
Its shocking that more coverage hasnt embarassed the government to do more to release this couple, time has moved on and the treatment they are receiving is like being in prison for them, it is high time a rescue operation is sent in.
I can’t believe this couple are still in the hands of these outlaws. I do think about them a lot and when I googled just now – hoped that they had been released and I had missed it.
What is our new government doing about it?
Its nearly been a year – this happened just after my birthday and I think of all the things I have done in the last year. I hope they come home safely and I hope they come home soon.