Italian family back in Rome following two years of captivity in Mali

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the family members were all in good condition.

Three members of an Italian family kidnapped and held hostage in Mali since May 2022 returned to Rome on Tuesday.

Rocco Langone, his wife Maria Caivano, and their son Giovanni landed at Ciampino Airport and were greeted by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and another son, Daniele Langone.

“I do not wish to anyone to go through what I went through,’’ Daniele Langone told reporters. “I am so grateful for all that has been done for me and for my family.”

Rome says an Al-Qaeda affiliated group, known as the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, kidnapped the family from their home in a community for Jehovah’s Witnesses on the outskirts of Koutiala, a city southeast of the capital Bamako.

Italian authorities said the family had lived in Mali for years as part of a “well-integrated community of Jehovah’s Witnesses.”

Tajani said that the family members were all in good condition.

By AP