Abducted Canadian Reporter Describes 4-Week Ordeal

This undated file photo shows journalist Mellissa Fung, a Canadian reporter kidnapped in Afghanistan...

This undated file photo shows journalist Mellissa Fung, a Canadian reporter kidnapped in Afghanistan who was set free after nearly a month in captivity, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2008. Fung, a reporter with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., was seized Oct. 12 near a refugee camp north of the Afghan capital of Kabul.

(CBC/The Canadian Press/AP )

Mellissa Fung says captors kept her blindfolded for four weeks in an underground cave so low the Canadian journalist could barely stand. Chains bound her hands and feet during her last week as a prisoner.

Afghan tribal elders and government officials won her safe release late Saturday, 28 days after she was taken from a refugee camp in Kabul while conducting interviews for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

In a video released Sunday, Fung was seen meeting with Afghanistan's intelligence chief and Canada's ambassador. Fung insisted she was fine, but apologized for the situation, despite the fact the refugee camp where she conducted interviews had been visited by many journalists previously and was considered safe to visit.

"I'm sorry for all the trouble," Fung said.

A Canadian official sitting nearby responded: "We're just glad you're here." Fung replied: "Yeah, so am I."

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In the videotape, taken by Afghan intelligence agents and released Sunday, Fung tells Canada's ambassador that she is not hurt and that she hopes people won't make "a big fuss" over her situation.

"I'm fine, really, I'm fine," she said.

When the ambassador greeted her with a hug, Fung said: "I'm not smelling great." She later said she hoped to take a shower.

Fung was held captive for a month in a dangerous region of Wardak province overrun by Taliban militants — one province west of Kabul. No officials would say whether Fung was held by the Taliban or a criminal gang, but given the location, Taliban involvement seemed likely.

Crimes against Westerners have spiked in Kabul in recent weeks. An aid worker with dual South African-British citizenship was killed by Taliban gunmen in a Kabul neighborhood last month, and a French aid worker was kidnapped at gunpoint in Kabul earlier this week.

And one day before Fung's release, a second Western female journalist — Dutch national Joanie de Rijke — was freed a week after being kidnapped, Belgian officials said.