Name Matt Schrier | ||
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Matthew B. Schrier is a Jewish American (former) photographer who escaped from al Qaeda.
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Early life and career
Schrier is from Deer Park, New York, and is a graduate of Hofstra University, where he studied film production and English. He entered Syria with the help of the Free Syrian Army. Schrier captured images of FSA rebels fighting forces of the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.
Abduction by the al-Nusra Front
In late December 2012, Schrier was captured by Jabhat al-Nusra, the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, while traveling on the road between Aleppo and the Turkish border. A Jeep Cherokee cut across from the side of the road and three men jumped out. Scherier told 60 Minutes, "One of 'em was cloaked completely in black, you know, like the guys in the movies -- scarf around his face, AK-47 in his hand, and he took me out, put me in the back seat of the Cherokee and he put the barrel of the gun to the side of my head." He was among a collection of kidnapped American journalists held by Syrian jihadis. He was eventually held in a series of rebel-controlled prisons in the Syrian city of Aleppo.
He strategically converted to Islam in March 2013 as a survival tactic to get better treatment, a tactic that ended up working.
Escape
In July 2013 Schrier became the first westerner to ever escape from al Qaeda. Before sunrise he squeezed himself through a small window with the help of his cellmate Peter Theo Curtis, who was left behind despite Schrier's efforts to get him out.During the planning of the escape Schrier claims that Curtis knocked on the door to alert the guards about the escape, a claim Curtis admitted in an interview with Die Zeit. Months after Schrier went public with this in a radio feature by the German public radio Deutschlandfunk Peter Theo Curtis suddenly stated that he was left behind by Schrier. He first had to help Schrier out and then Schrier told Curtis that Curtis would not make it before leaving him. None of these claims were mentioned in Curtis's NY Times article or in any statements after he returned home however nor have any of his claims been taken seriously and reported on by American media.
