French charity worker Sophie Pétronin, who was abducted in Mali and held hostage since December 2016, has been released, confirmed the Malian presidency. 75-year-old Pétronin, two Italian captives and top Malian politicians were believed to have been held by jihadists. Malian authorities said that French woman Sophie Pétronin, 75, and Soumaïla Cissé, 70, were on their way to the capital Bamako. The release of the last French hostage was welcomed by French President Emmanuel Macron. “Sophie Pétronin is free. Held hostage for nearly four years in Mali, her release is a great relief,” Macron wrote on Twitter.
“I think I haven’t realised yet. She’s on the plane,” her son Sébastien Chadaud-Pétronin was quoted as saying by The Guardian. Chadaud-Pétronin had flown to Mali early this week on the expectation of her release.
Pétronin, who ran an organisation assisting orphans in Mali in the northern city of Gao, was abducted by armed men in December 2016. Her release comes days after the government of Mali freed more than 100 suspected or convicted jihadists as part of negotiations for the release of both her and Cissé, AFP reported.
Pétronin, who has cancer, was suffering from malaria at the time of her abduction. In a video released by her captors in 2018, she addressed her son and appealed to President Macron for help. Chadaud-Pétronin said he is concerned about the state his mother might be in. "I expect to find someone sick, very weak. I hope she can still see, I don't think she can stand. No matter what state she is in, I know she is still lucid. I am looking forward to seeing her again,” he was quoted as saying by France 24.
