Obituary: Terry Anderson, journalist

Respected journalist Terry Anderson became a political pawn after his kidnapping in 1985, spending almost seven years as a hostage — an experience which scarred the rest of his life. In the mid-80s, the Ohio-born Mr Anderson was living in Lebanon and was the AP’s chief Middle East correspondent. On a rare day off he played tennis with a colleague and was abducted by terrorists on the way home. What followed was nearly seven years of brutality during which he was beaten, chained to a wall, threatened with death, often had guns held to his head and was kept in solitary confinement for long periods. Mr Anderson was the longest held of several Western hostages Hezbollah abducted over the years, including Terry Waite, the former envoy to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had arrived to try to negotiate Mr Anderson’s release. A combative captive who often fought with his jailers — an experience he detailed in his 1993 memoir Den of Lions — Mr Anderson was eventually released in December 1991. Mr Anderson’s well-developed sense of humour often hid the PTSD he acknowledged suffering for years afterward. Mr Anderson died on April 21 aged 76. — Agencies.