ON NOVEMBER 18TH, 1991, Terry Waite was freed by Shia Muslims who had held him hostage for nearly five years. He spent much of his time in captivity in solitary confinement, chained to a radiator, clinging to the hope that one day he would see wide open spaces again.
As the special envoy for the archbishop of Canterbury (though not a clergyman himself), Waite had gone to Beirut in 1987 to negotiate the release of several hostages, including John McCarthy, Terry Anderson and Brian Keenan. He had already successfully negotiated the release of hostages in Iran and Libya, but when he arrived in Lebanon to meet with Islamic jihadists, he too was taken captive.
Waite is marking the 20th anniversary of his release by highlighting the plight of people trapped by poverty and inequality. As the president of the homeless charity Emmaus, Waite has been active in setting up communities for formerly homeless people, helping them to reintegrate into society and restore their dignity.
Returning to normal life after being beaten, chained and deprived of dignity for five years wasn’t easy for Waite. When he emerged from captivity, he had the dubious honour of being Britain’s most famous hostage. He was the object of a popular pub joke, and his name had become cockney rhyming slang for “late”. But these blasé gags glossed over the reality of Waite’s day-to-day life as a Hizbullah hostage. Besides being chained to a radiator, he was regularly blindfolded, beaten on the soles of his feet, subjected to mock executions, and moved from place to place in a large refrigerator.
After his release, Waite, his wife Frances and their four children were subjected to intense media scrutiny, but he knew he needed time to readjust to life and mitigate the effects of post-traumatic stress, so he stayed away from the spotlight for a year to convalesce, and put the harrowing account of his ordeal down on paper in the best-selling book, Taken on Trust. And rather than dwell on his own suffering, he turned his energies to helping others in desperate situations. He campaigned for the welfare of prisoners, and gave support to families of hostages through Hostage UK; he even offered to negotiate on behalf of military personnel held captive in Iran in 2007.
During his time as a hostage, Waite says he would never have wanted anyone to risk their lives trying to rescue him. In 2009, he criticised the “gung ho” handling of the rescue of the American journalist Stephen Farrell, held captive by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Two people were killed in the raid.
Now 72, Waite no longer works for the Church of England, but retains the faith that kept him going through nearly five years of captivity. His experience as a prisoner, he says, also helped him to see the shallowness of modern materialism. In 2009, angered by the MPs’ expenses scandal, he considered running for office as in independent candidate, but now believes he can do more good as an active humanitarian rather than as a politician. And despite his religious affiliation, he is sympathetic to the Occupy London protesters who have set up camp at St Paul’s Cathedral. “Our society is going to fragment unless we are very, very careful,” he said in an interview with the Guardian last week. “ have a responsibility for the elderly, for the sick, for children and for those who are casualties of society.”
