photojournalist Jonathan Alpeyrie became a pawn in the violence of the Syrian civil war. His local “fixer” betrayed him to a group of Syrian rebels who held him hostage, beat and tortured him for 81 days.
Experience the true story of Jonathan Alpeyrie, a seasoned french-American conflict photographer and photojournalist. Alpeyrie was abducted and held hostage in 2013 by Syrian rebels while on his 3rd assignment documenting Syria’s civil war.
he was blindfolded, handcuffed, beaten, and subjected to physical and psychological torture. Jonathan was on an emotional roller coaster fighting for survival, living every hour in fear that he would be the next hostage to be executed.
Troops of Syrian dictator president Bashar Al-Assad, backed by Hezbollah (having ties to isis and global jihad), were fighting the free Syrian army rebels who were Jonathan’s captors. His location was regularly shelled by mortars that exploded around him. In the darkness of night, Jonathan heard the screams of other prisoners of war being tortured.
Alpeyrie recognized that his survival depended on connecting to the humanity within his captors. Thus began a love-hate relationship with each of the men holding him hostage. Jonathan learned about their personalities, quirks, hopes, and fears. He tapped into his reclaimed faith, which gave him the strength to endure and survive.
Throughout his unforgettable ordeal, with his life in peril, Alpeyrie examined his high-risk professional devotion to the wartime events he had witnessed, documented, and exposed over the course of his careуr.
