Terry Anderson Freed: Last American Hostage After 7 Years
Terry Anderson, the chief Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press, was released by his Hezbollah captors in Beirut on December 4, 1991, after 2,454 days in captivity, the longest of any American hostage in Lebanon. He had been seized on March 16, 1985, while jogging near his apartment. During nearly seven years of captivity, Anderson was blindfolded, chained to walls, beaten, and kept in solitary confinement for extended periods. He passed time by praying, exercising in his chains, and eventually persuading his guards to provide books. His release was part of a UN-brokered deal that also freed the remaining Western hostages held by Lebanese factions. Anderson later sued Iran in U.S. federal court and was awarded $341 million in damages, though collecting proved impossible. He became a professor of journalism at Columbia and Ohio University.
December 4, 1991
35 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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