Algerian man held captive by neighbour for 26 years in ‘good well being’
- Omar Bin Omran is recovering in hospital after disappearing in 1998 aged 19
- He was found in a pen used for keeping sheep just 100 metres from his home
- A 61-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping him
A man who was allegedly kidnapped and held captive by his neighbour for 26 years just 100 metres from home is in ‘good health’ but remains shocked after being freed earlier this week, his family said.
Omar Bin Omran, from El Guedid near Djelfa, 150 miles south of Algiers, was just 19 when he disappeared in 1998 on his way to a vocational school at the height of Algeria’s civil war, prompting fears amongst his family that he had been killed.
But the truth was under his grieving family’s nose the entire time: now 45, a bearded Omar was found in a sheep pen, covered by bales of hay by his family after they stormed the neighbour’s house following a tip-off on social media.
Speaking to Algerian media, the missing man’s cousin Khaled Reggab said his relative was not in a ‘critical’ state but that he is ‘shocked, more than shocked’ having spent more than a quarter of a century in captivity.
Mr Reggab appeared to confirm stories reported elsewhere that Omar’s dog had pined for him outside the neighbour’s home for two weeks after he went missing – before allegedly being killed by the captor to silence its whines.
Omar Bin Omran at the moment he was found in a sheep pen in El Guedid, Algeria, earlier this week after 26 years of being held captive
Omar pictured as a young man around the age at which he disappeared in 1998. His family believed he was killed in the civil war
Footage of Omar being discovered has gone viral on social media. The Arabic caption reads: ‘The moment they found him in their neighbour’s house’
And he added that the family was in a ‘catastrophic’ shock following the news that Omar was alive – which came more than a decade after his mother died without ever knowing the truth.
‘I have no information about him but according to what I saw his health condition is good, it is not critical,’ Mr Reggab told Echorouk News.
‘His psychological state is shocked, and more than shocked, he is afraid, especially since he was detained, meaning he is not accustomed to being (outside).
‘Omar is still under therapeutic and psychological care at this minute. I see them (his family) in a catastrophic shock.’
The missing man’s story has shocked the world after it was first reported earlier this week.
He was discovered on May 12 after a relative of the alleged captor posted on social media, reportedly following an inheritance dispute, to say he was at the house.
His family stormed the residence, just yards from their own, and found the shocked man, now 45, beneath a pile of hay. The alleged culprit, a 61-year-old doorman working in El Guedid, was taken into custody after attempting to flee.
‘This is a true tragedy and we thank God that we were able to find our son,’ one of Mr bin Omran’s uncles, Karim Rgueb, told local media outlet El Djazair N1 in remarks reported by The National.
Mr Reggab confirmed some aspects of the story – including that a dog belonging to the family was killed two weeks after Omar went missing. The culprit is suspected to be Omar’s kidnapper, thought to have killed it to silence its whines outside his home.
Omar’s cousin continued: ‘The property owner is using it on the basis that it is a stable. He is about 100 metres, only 100 metres (away) on the same street.
‘The dog was frequenting the house of the owner of this residence for more than a week – and this story was confirmed by all of Omar’s friends and even those closest to the family – until it was killed two weeks later.’
Questions have been asked by those reading Omar’s story about why, in more than 25 years, he did not seek to escape. Algerian media has reported that he is said to have told relatives he was under a ‘spell’.
Mr Reggab said: ‘This matter is puzzling. The (sheep pen) belongs to the residence and he has some sheep. It has piles of hay and Omar was covered with all this hay.
‘Even when we asked him, why didn’t you shout or try to resist or leave the house and so on, his answer was very simple. He said literally ‘I was not able to even speak or even walk.”
Omar came from the town of El Guedid, near Djelfa, around 150 miles south of Algerian capital city Algiers
This is the area where Omar was found. His cousin said he had been kept in a ‘warehouse’ type building that was being used to hold sheep
Locals were seen gathering in the street close to where the discovery was made earlier this week
The Algerian Ministry of Justice said the investigation was still ongoing, adding that the victim was receiving medical and psychological care after the crime it described as ‘heinous’.
Tragically, Omar’s mother died in 2013 without ever knowing the truth of what happened to her son. She had made pleas on television for information about what happened to her son, according to Algerian newspaper L’ Expression.
Mr Reggab said that, contrary to earlier reports, Omar did not find out his mother had died whilst in captivity.
He added: ‘She said: ‘I still feel that my son is in… El Guedid. It was a great sadness even though she had a feeling her son was not far from her.’
A neighbour of the abducted man told Algerian TV station Bilad: ‘His poor mum died while he was in captivity, without knowing what had happened to him, without knowing that all this time he was really right beside her.’
Public prosecutors in Djelfa, a mountain city of around 500,000 people about 140 miles south of coastal capital Algiers, say Omar will receive psychological care after being rescued as they vowed to get him justice.
‘The Djelfa Attorney General’s Office informs the public that on May 12 at 8pm local time it found victim Omar B, aged 45, in the case of his neighbour, B.A., aged 61,’ they said in a statement.
His family is thought to have believed him dead, killed in the Algerian civil war that raged more than 20 years ago. Relatives claim the dog was poisoned after it began smelling Omar’s scent close by
The case of Omar’s discovery, more than a quarter of a century on from his alleged kidnapping, could mean he is one of the world’s longest-held captives
A statement issued by the Algerian Ministry of Justice (pictured) promised that Omar would receive psychological care, and vowed the perpetrator would be tried with ‘severity’
A court official in Djelfa was quoted as saying: ‘Two days ago, on May 12, 2024, the Public Prosecutor’s Office received, through the regional department of the National Gendarmerie in El Jadid, a complaint against an anonymous person claiming that the complainant’s brother, Omar Bin Omran, who has been missing for about 30 years, is in the house of one of his neighbours, inside a sheepfold.
‘Following this report the General Prosecutor of the Court of Idrisiya in the province of Djelfa ordered the National Gendarmerie to open an in-depth investigation and officers went to the house in question.
‘The missing person was found and the suspect, the 61-year-old owner of the house was arrested.’
He added: ‘The Public Prosecutor’s Office ordered that the victim receive medical and psychological treatment, and the suspect will be presented to the Public Prosecutor’s Office immediately after the completion of the investigation.’
Officials have promised the ‘perpetrator of this heinous crime’ will be tried with ‘severity’.
The man held is understood to work as a civil servant and lived alone – but Algerian media suggested he was regularly seen buying enough food for two people.
Algeria’s civil war raged for a decade from 1992, as the government sought to repel attacks by armed Islamist rebel groups following a military coup on the eve of the country’s elections.
