Martin Galea was not the only foreigner being held at a militia prison camp.

In an exclusive interview with The Malta Independent, Mr Galea revealed that there were at least two other foreigners; a Saudi and a Turk.

“The Turk had been there for 54 days. I managed to speak to him briefly while we were forced to wash the dishes. He was thin and weak, his clothes in tatters, and he had a ‘hunted’ look in his eyes. He had no hope of making it out of there alive. It was as if he was constantly expecting the next beating. Just before I left I managed to grab his hand and utter the word ‘forza’ to him.” Martin broke down in tears while reliving that particular incident. “If I never did anything good with my life at least I tried to give him some courage before they took me away.”

Martin said he tried to lift the man’s spirits while their captors were around the corner, discussing how to destroy Libya. “When I left he was still there. I said to myself I did not want to spend as much time in here as he did. I said it would be better to die at their hands.”

 

Two captors had lived in Malta

In the exclusive interview, Mr Galea also revealed that two of his captors had lived in St Julians in Malta in 2001. “One was called il-Fahmi and he wanted me dead from day one. The other pretended to help me but in reality he was trying to extract information to be used against me."

The second part of the interview will be published Friday in The Malta Independent and more excerpts of the video interview will be uploaded.