Sjaak Rich abducted Swedish is released

Al Qaeda in Mali released the Swedish hostage Johan Gustafsson, 42, after nearly six years.

Gustafsson was kidnapped in 2011 with the Dutch engineer Sjaak Rijke and the South African Stephen McGowan during a motorcycle ride in Mali. By 2015, Rijke was released by chance by an action by French soldiers. The fate of their South African travel companion remains invisible.

According to Swedish media, the abductors had previously requested 5 million ransom for the release of Gustafsson. The Swedish Ministry does not respond to questions about ransom and only reports that 'considerable effort' has been made to release Gustafsson.