An emaciated-looking Warren Rodwell was freed on Saturday after 15 months in captivity
An Australian man kidnapped 15 months ago by an al-Qaeda-linked group in the Philippines has been released.
An emaciated-looking Warren Rodwell was freed on Saturday near Pagadian city in the southern Philippines, police said.
He was kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf militants in 2011, and had last been shown alive in a video posted on social media websites in December.
Abu Sayyaf is considered the smallest and most radical of the extremist movements in the southern Philippines.
Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr welcomed the news, saying the release had been the result of a joint effort by authorities in both countries.
"The Philippines government had the lead role in this case and deserve congratulations for their tireless efforts on Mr Rodwell's behalf," said Mr Carr.
He added that Mr Rodwell was being moved to a safe location and that the focus now was on his recovery.
'No payments'
Mr Rodwell - who runs a shop with his wife in the Philippines' seaside town of Ipil, close to Zamboanga in south-western Mindanao - was abducted in December 2011.
A number of foreigners have been kidnapped for ransom in the southern Philippines. The Australian government has a longstanding policy of refusing to pay ransom for its citizens.
Areas within the region are used as bases by Islamist militants and rebel groups.
Abu Sayyaf militants remain a security threat in the impoverished region, where minority Muslims have been fighting for self-rule for decades.
The main Muslim separatist group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, last year signed a peace accord with the government in exchange for broad autonomy.
But Abu Sayyaf were among the rebel groups who refused to sign up to the peace deal.
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The one's who have gained out of the Warren Rodwell kidnapping crime are the terrorists and the local Filipina wife, who tried to trash the husband's reputation right from the get go. Strange that she kept using her maiden name after marriage. Why didn't she sell his house and the water filling station as she claimed, (but was quickly exposed to be untrue) to raise ransom money?
After release, the local Filipina wife said, "When I go there (to the hospital) I want to see him, I want to taking care of him, I want him to meet me but the guards said Warren don't want to see me in person,'' she said. Mr Rodwell was lucky to get out of this ordeal. Perhaps. He preferred to stay alive without her in the same country as him.
http://www.livinginthephilippines.com/forum/index.php?topic=48479.new;topicseen#new
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