Two Czech women who were kidnapped in Pakistan two years ago have been released, Czech Television reported early on Saturday citing Turkish media sources. The IHH Turkish charity reportedly participated in negotiations to secure their release and the two young women returned home via Turkey late on Friday night.
Antonie Chrástecká and Hana Humpálová, photo: IHH - Insani Yardim Vakfi
The news of their safe return has since been confirmed by Prime Minister
Bohuslav Sobotka, who thanked the IHH for helping to secure their release
and asked the media to respect their and their families’ privacy in order
to enable them to return back to a normal life as soon as possible. The
Turkish media published a photo of the young women on which they both
appear to be unharmed.
Hana Humpálová and Antonie Chrástecká were 24 when they were kidnapped in the southwestern Pakistani province of Baluchistan by a group of unidentified gunmen who took them off a bus. The women had recently arrived from Iran and were heading for India. The kidnappers also abducted a local police officer, who was later released. Two videos of the abducted women appeared on Facebook –on June 26 and October 30 of 2014 in which they asked the government for help saying their lived were in danger.
Antonie Chrástecká told the Turkish media after her release that she still could not believe she was finally safe. ”It was extremely hard. We were surrounded by armed men, there was gunfire and there were bombs exploding, but in time we got used to it.” she told the Anadolu news agency.
It is not clear where the young women were kept in detention and no details of their release have so far been made public.
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