Commuters Silently Dance The Tango At London Bridge (Photo : Getty Images)
A Danish journalist who was a prisoner of Jihadi John in Syria for several months claimed that the notorious Islamic State (IS) executioner beat him and forced him to dance the tango.
The freelance photographer, 26-year-old Daniel Rye Ottosen, survived the incarceration and torture and is one of the few detainees who was released by the jihadists in June 2014 with his head intact. The tango was followed by beatings, reports HNGN.
While doing the tango with Mohammed Emwazi, the real name of the Britain-educated jihadist, "I just looked down at the ground the whole time because I did not want to look at them - if you looked them in the eye you would get beaten even more," Ottosen recalls.
While dancing around the prison, Jihadi John suddenly threw Ottosen down and kicked him. The terrorist then threatened to cut his nose with a side-cutting pliers, according to Fox. Other torture methods used on the photographer include making him stand for days and hanging him from a chain with his handcuffed hands over his head.
The beatings, at one point, lasted for two weeks straight, the photographer shares, for him to admit to his interrogators that he is a CIA agent. Once, when Ottosen could not take it anymore, he attempted suicide by placing the chain around his neck and jumping from a chair, but the try was unsuccessful.
Ottosen shared a hospital room with American hostage James Foley who was at the receiving end of Jihadi John's sharp knife. He taught Foley - who had weak motor skills - to stand on one leg with closed eyes as a way of building strength.
For his release on June 19, 2014, Ottosen's family paid millions of dollars in ransom. It took him a year to heal before he resumed work as a photographer. The former hostage wrote a book about his experience. The book was released on Tuesday in Denmark.
