Amanda Lindhout book reveals horror of Somalia kidnapping

Note the sheet. “Devout Muslims” cling to the Burqa even when raping a woman in their Islamic prayer room.

That is an excerpt from the account of Amanda Lindhout, a Canadian woman taken hostage in Somalia. She and her partner attempted to tell the kidnappers that were converting to Islam and prayed and read the Koran.

It didn’t seem to help them any.

While Lindhout and Brennan were kidnapped together, they had different experiences in captivity. Brennan was kept in a room with windows, furniture and books to read, but Lindhout was holed up in a dark room with rats. It was simple: he was a man; she was a woman.

They both told their captors they wanted to convert to Islam. They recited the Koran and prayed five times each day, hoping it would provide them some protection.

Back in Canada, Lindhout’s family feared she was being sexually assaulted, but Canadian officials assured them Muslims were unlikely to do such a thing.

She says one captor, however, routinely snuck into her room and forced himself on her.

Agencies