Nearly one week after being released by her Somalian kidnappers, Amanda Lindhout has been discharged from a Kenyan hospital.
Family spokesperson Sarah Geddes said that Lindhout, 28, left a Nairobi hospital on Monday.
“There is however no set date for her return and it will truly depend on her well-being,” said Geddes in an email from Calgary on Tuesday. “It will not be within the coming days.”
Lindhout, a freelance journalist formerly of Sylvan Lake, and Australian photographer Nigel Brennan, 38, arrived in Somalia to cover the plight of Somalis displaced by violence in August 2008 when gunmen ambushed their vehicle outside the city of Mogadishu. They spent 15 months in captivity before being released into the hands of Somalian government officials on Nov. 25.
Lindhout said she had been beaten and tortured. Brennan said he had been pistol-whipped and locked in chains for the past 10 months, ever since the pair tried to escape.
Families of both had paid a ransom.
A U.K-based hostage negotiation group helped secure the pair’s release.
Ian Hastings of AKE said no more statements will be made at the family’s request at this time.
“They are still in Nairobi,” he said from Britain on Tuesday. “The family are very happy for what we did for them.”
Hastings said he expects the families will make statements soon on their children being freed, but he’s not sure from where.