NEW DELHI: Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who was recently freed after being abducted by IS militants 18 months ago, has said that the IS captors took care of him and “have not injured me at all.”
Uzhunnalil, a Catholic priest from Kerala said that his kidnappers never harmed him physically even if in some videos it appear they feigned hitting him during his captivity.
The 59-year-old Uzhunnalil said that they even procured tablets to treat his diabetes, and took care of him by giving him food and encouraging exercise indoors, reported Associate Press.
During his ordeal, Uzhunnalil lost about 30 kilograms and was generally weakened and was “happy, strong in mind and soul” though he needed to recuperate.
“I have been happy, strong in mind and soul. Still I need a little more recuperation from my physical weaknesses…No major illness, other than my diabetes,” he said in his first video message after being released on September 12.
He said he was grateful to God and to everybody for their love, concern and prayers.
FatherTom abducted in war-torn Yemen in March last year by IS militants from port city of Aden during a deadly attack on a care home run by Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.
Earlier, Oman’s official news agency ONA reported that Oman in coordination with the “Yemeni parties” had managed to find Father Uzhunnalil and that he has been moved to Muscat.
It said Uzhunnalil also thanked and appreciated Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said.
With agencies inputs