Veteran reporter Jonathan Holmes returns to the program with an exclusive interview with the Australian doctor held captive by Al Qaeda in the harsh Saharan desert for more than seven years. Dr Ken Elliott and his wife Jocelyn were kidnapped from the West African country of Burkina Faso in January 2016 where they were working. While Jocelyn was released three weeks later, Ken endured brutal conditions. He was quietly released last year at the age of 88.
Now the Elliotts have decided to tell their extraordinary story to Foreign Correspondent.
Jonathan Holmes has been following their case since the Elliotts were first taken. In 2016 he travelled with a military escort to the remote town of Djibo in Burkina Faso where the Elliotts had lived for more than 40 years and where they ran a hospital offering lifesaving surgery. Days out from broadcast, concerns over Dr Elliott’s safety prevented his report from being shown. Now their story can finally be told. It's one of unimaginable pain and suffering as well as remarkable resilience. It’s also a story of hope, faith and survival against all odds.
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Foreign Correspondent is the prime-time international public affairs program on Australia's national broadcaster, ABC-TV. We produce half-hour duration in-depth reports for broadcast across the ABC's television channels and digital platforms. Since 1992, our teams have journeyed to more than 170 countries to report on war, natural calamity and social and political upheaval – through the eyes of the people at the heart of it all.
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