Emotional reunion for reporter Johnston

Updated 07.37 Sun Jul 08 2007

Keywords: Alan Johnston, BBC

Freed BBC correspondent Alan Johnston has held an emotional reunion with his parents in Scotland.

Mr Johnston, 45, who was released on Wednesday after 114 days in captivity flew from Tel Aviv on board a British Airways flight, touching down at London's Heathrow Airport just after midday.

Johnston, 45, who was released on Wednesday after 114 days in captivity, flew from Tel Aviv on board a British Airways flight, touching down at London's Heathrow Airport just after midday

He is now in Lochgoilhead, in Argyll, Scotland where his parents, Graham and Margaret, and sister Catriona had been awaiting his return.

Mr Johnston said: "Here I am back with my family in this beautiful and peaceful place. Travelling home has just never felt so very good as it does today, as you can imagine.

"It's something that will stay with you all your life."

He drew comparisons between his new surroundings in Scotland and the bare cell in which he was kept for nearly four months.

He said: "There just isn't an imaginable contrast greater than this. The hills, the muddy ground, the cold and the weather and beauty. I came to love Gaza in a way but those four months in that cell was something else. Being here is like another planet."

He said he would be spending some time with his family and going on to enjoy a couple of months of rest before any return to his employers.

He said: "There's so much to talk about. I'm going to have some time with the family and a couple of months of rest. I haven't quite worked out where the BBC might fit me in when I get back."

Mr Johnston was snatched by gunmen from the shadowy Army of Islam group on March 12 as he returned home to his flat in Gaza, where he had been reporting for the BBC for three years.

The kidnapping sparked a worldwide campaign for his release, involving politicians, faith leaders and his colleagues both in the BBC and other media organisations.

More than 200,000 people signed an online petition calling for his safe return, and there were also demonstrations from residents in the troubled territory of Gaza.

He was released following pressure on his captors by Hamas, a group boycotted by the EU and the US because of its terror links and refusal to recognise Israel.