Irish hostage Brian Keenan, who spent four years in captivity in Lebanon, has returned to Beirut to film a new documentary about his experiences.
Keenan (56) was abducted by Islamic Jihad, a fundamentalist Shia militia, in 1986 while working as an English teacher in Beirut at the height of Lebanon's bloody civil war. He was held for 4½ years and was often tortured and beaten before his eventual release in August 1990.
He has come back for a new BBC documentary on his life as a hostage.
He has spent the last three weeks in Lebanon filming. He also gave a public reading from his book, An Evil Cradling, written about his time as a hostage, in Beirut last night.
He spoke at the reading of the terrible conditions of his captivity and of the cruelty and violence he endured at the hands of his captors.
"I often refer to my captivity as a holiday," he said. "I'm back for another holiday because I thought Lebanon owed me one.
"I was nine months on my own in a tiny frigging little cell. The food was slid under the door, I was taken out for 10 minutes a day to go to the toilet and put back in again."
During another period, he was shackled to a wall and held with other hostages in a remote farm shed, with armed gunmen guarding them 24 hours a day.
One of his captors, he said, was a violent, cruel and psychotic man who took pleasure in inflicting pain. "If I had the capacity I would have slit his throat and smiled while doing it."
Despite this, he said he bore no animosity toward his captors or toward the Lebanese people. "I don't want revenge, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth leaves everybody blind and unable to speak."
He said his return visit had brought him a sense of peace and he hoped he would not have nightmares of his ordeal any more.
He was due to come to Lebanon last year but postponed his trip after the Israeli Hizbullah war.
Keenan's wife, Audrey, and his two young sons Cal and Jack, also travelled with him.
Keenan was abducted in April 1986, along with a number of others including Associated Press Bureau Chief Terry Anderson and British journalist John McCarthy.
At the time he was travelling on both British and Irish passports.
The British government refused to negotiate with his kidnappers but the Irish Government launched a massive campaign to secure his release.
His sisters, Elaine Spence and Brenda Gillham, spearheaded the campaign.
He was finally released on August 24th, 1990 and handed over to the Syrian army. He was driven to Damascus and flown home on the Irish Government jet.