A Spanish journalist and a photographer have been kidnapped in Syria by a rebel group linked to the al-Qaeda, their families said Tuesday.
Journalist Javier Espinosa and photographer Ricardo Garcia-Vilanova were abducted on September 16 at a checkpoint in northern Raqqa province near the Turkish border.
Espinosa, who works for El Mundo newspaper, and Garcia-Vilanova were seized by fighters belonging to the rebel group, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), as they were attempting to to leave Syria at the end of a two-week reporting mission.
Although four members of the Free Syrian Army - the main Western-backed rebel group - who were traveling along with the two journalists were also taken by the ISIL fighters, they were released after 12 days.
The families of the two abducted journalists said Tuesday that the news of the kidnapping was not reported until now because of ongoing negotiations with the rebels holding the two men.
Espinosa's wife Monica Preito urged the captors to free the two men at an emotional news conference in Beirut, noting that the pair had "traveled a dozen times to Syria to document war crimes, risking their lives, and becoming brothers with the Syrians in their fear, misery and humanitarian crisis."
"Javier and Ricardo are not your enemy. Please, honor the revolution they protected, and set them free," she added.
More than 100,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Syria since March 2011, when opposition protesters first sought the ouster of the government headed by President Bashar al-Assad. A further 6.5 million people have been displaced by the continuing conflict.
Conditions for the press in Syria have deteriorated severely since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in early 2011. It is estimated that at least 25 journalists have been killed in Syria since the conflict began.
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