Matt Schrier
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Matthew B. Schrier is an American former photographer who escaped from al Qaeda.


Early life and career

Schrier is from
Deer Park, New York Deer Park is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Babylon, in Suffolk County, on Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 27,745 at the 2010 census. History Deer Park is located in the pine barrens in t ...
, and attended Hofstra University, where he was an English major who also studied film production. He entered Syria with the help of the Free Syrian Army. Schrier captured images of FSA rebels fighting forces of the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.


Abduction by the al-Nusra Front

In late December 2012, Schrier was captured by
Jabhat al-Nusra Al-Nusra Front or Jabhat al-Nusra ( ar, جبهة النصرة لأهل الشام, Jabhat an-Nuṣrah li-Ahl ish-Sham lit. ''Front of the Supporters of the People of Syria/the Levant''), known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham ( ar, جبهة فتح ال ...
, the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria, while traveling on the road between Aleppo and the Turkish border. A Jeep Cherokee cut across from the side of the road and three men jumped out. Schrier told 60 Minutes, "One of 'em was cloaked completely in black, you know, like the guys in the movies -- scarf around his face, AK-47 in his hand, and he took me out, put me in the back seat of the Cherokee and he put the barrel of the gun to the side of my head." He was among a collection of kidnapped American journalists held by Syrian jihadis. He was eventually held in a series of rebel-controlled prisons in the Syrian city of Aleppo. He strategically converted to Islam in March 2013 as a survival tactic to get better treatment, a tactic that ended up working.


Escape

In July 2013 Schrier became the first Westerner to ever escape from al Qaeda. Before sunrise he squeezed himself through a small window with the help of his cellmate Peter Theo Curtis, who got stuck in the window and did not escape. According to Schrier, this was despite his best efforts to get him out. Curtis has given multiple, conflicting accounts of the escape attempt. He has said that Schrier failed to help him adequately and abandoned him, and he has said that he told Schrier to go for help. During the planning of the escape, Schrier claims that Curtis knocked on the door to alert the guards about the escape, a claim Curtis admitted in an interview with Die Zeit.


Aftermath

His book ''The Dawn Prayer (Or How to Survive in a Secret Syrian Terrorist Prison): A Memoir'' () was published on April 3, 2018. In January 2020, Schrier filed a lawsuit against Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), as he claimed that they provide sponsorship for al-Qaeda.


See also

* 2014 American Intervention in Syria * Foreign hostages in Iraq * Kenneth Bigley *
Nick Berg Nicholas Evan Berg (April 2, 1978 – May 7, 2004) was an American freelance radio-tower repairman who went to Iraq after the United States' invasion of Iraq. He was abducted and beheaded according to a video released in May 2004 by Islamist mi ...
*
James Foley (journalist) James Wright Foley (October 18, 1973 – August 19, 2014) was an American journalist and video reporter. While working as a freelance war correspondent during the Syrian Civil War, he was abducted on November 22, 2012, in northwestern Syria. H ...
*
Daniel Pearl Daniel Pearl (October 10, 1963 – February 1, 2002) was an American journalist who worked for ''The Wall Street Journal.'' He was kidnapped and later decapitated by terrorists in Pakistan.' Pearl was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and rais ...
* Steven Sotloff * Austin Tice


References


External links


Matthew Schrier interview
*http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/The-only-Jew-to-have-escaped-from-al-Qaida-411445 *http://www.zeit.de/2015/35/geisel-al-kaida-geiselhaft-syrien-aleppo-al-nusra {{DEFAULTSORT:Schrier, Matt American Jews American people taken hostage American photographers Hofstra University alumni Kidnapped American people People from Long Island People from Syosset, New York Travel photographers Living people American war photographers Year of birth missing (living people)