Al-Qaeda claims Spanish hostage converted to Islam: Possibly Stockholm Syndrome?

If you are that afraid you might agree to almost anything ~ even convert to the religion of your captures.

Convert to Islam and live ~ don't convert and die.

And also when you are at the complete mercy ~ of someone ~ to survive your mind is going to snap into trying to please this person. And to please them you identify with them ~ and that is the Stockholm Syndrome.

There is the British journalist Yvonne Ridley who was captured by the Taliban ~ and has now become a full fledged Islamist. In interviews she says the Taliban might have thought she was ~ a 'typical western woman' because she was uncooperative ~ versus submissive Islamic? Already she is putting herself down ~ in trying to save her life ~ she moves to controlled Islamic woman. I wouldn't say she is submissive ~ because I think she identified with her male captures. But she does talk about the days when she used to party and drink champagne ~ so she moved to Islamic controlled ~ but active like the Taliban ~ working now with the Muslims across the globe to set up an Islamic utopia. She is a radical.

Madrid - A Spanish woman held hostage by al-Qaeda was released this week because of her health problems - and because she had converted to Islam, the daily El Pais on Friday quoted an al-Qaeda communique as saying. There were, however, no visible signs that 35-year-old Alicia Gamez had converted, nor did she make any comments to that effect when arriving in Barcelona on Wednesday.

Gamez and two male companions were abducted from a convoy of the aid organization they worked for on November 29 in Mauritania. The three were then taken to northern Mali.

The Spanish government has denied paying a ransom for Gamez, but a press report claimed she had been released for a sum of two million dollars. Her two companions remain in captivity.

Al-Qaeda's north African branch said it decided to release Gamez because of her frail health and because she converted "voluntarily" to Islam, taking the name Aicha, El Pais quoted a communique by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) as saying.

The daily said it obtained the communique exclusively.

The reasons given by AQIM for freeing Gamez contradicted the opinion of Spanish doctors, who said she was in good health. Neither di her appearance or comments indicate a conversion to Islam.

AQIM described Gamez' release as a "positive initiative" obliging Spain to "respond favourably" to the group's "legitimate" conditions for the release of Gamez' companions.

AQIM did not name the conditions, but they are seeking a ransom of 5 million dollars and the release of Islamist prisoners from a jail in Nouakchott, Mauritania, El Pais quoted sources close to the negotiations as saying.

AQIM said it had kidnapped Spaniards because of Spain's participation in international military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Earth Times