“I sat there, frozen, on the back seat of the pick-up. I could not see anything. I could only smell the stench of sweat coming from the dirty vest that had been tied around my head. I knew we were approaching the gate and I braced myself for the shot that would end my life.”
Mr Galea, who is a fluent Arabic speaker, heard his captors say that they would blindfold him, put him in the back of a pick-up truck and shoot him in the back of the head before dumping his body in the desert. The first part of the plan was already in motion.
“I knew we were approaching the gate. The vehicle was not slowing down. We drove through and nothing happened. My mind was racing. I kept asking myself; what is happening? What is happening?”
Other foreigners held at the camp
Martin was sure he was going to die. He became convinced that he would not make it out of there alive because other foreigners had been held hostage longer than him. “There was a Saudi and a Turk, who had been held for almost 60 days by that time. 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 look in his eyes that showed he had no hope of making it out alive. It was as if he was constantly expecting another 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.” But now, it seemed, it was the Maltese prisoner’s turn.
You have been given your life back
“The vehicle stopped after a few seconds. I knew we had stopped beside a large warehouse I had seen before from my cell. At first I thought they would kill me there and then, but then I heard another vehicle pull up. Then I thought, Oh my god, they have sold me off.”
From under the blindfold he could see a silver coloured 4x4 Mercedes. Someone sat him down on the back seat. “We drove off. I was still blindfolded and could not really see where we were headed. After a couple of minutes we hit smooth tarmac and I realised we were on a main road.”
Then, the man sitting next to Martin removed the blindfold. “The man sitting in the front turned to me and said; you have been given your life back. You are now in the good hands of the Yad il-Yamini organisation. My name is Hajj Omar. You are free.”
Not expecting this turn of events, Martin broke down again, but this time they were tears of joy. “I could not stop crying. I cried so much.”
Driven away to safety
Martin asked where he was being taken. Mr Omar said he was taking him somewhere safe. He would not tell him the name of the place, only that he would be taken somewhere secure, where he would be given food and be able to take a shower. He also handed him his mobile phone and told him he could call anyone he wanted. So he called his wife. “I told her that I love her and I missed her,” he says, with tears building up in his eyes again.
The car pulled up at a military barracks. Martin describes it as a large and modern complex. Getting out of the car was not so easy. “They had to help me. The sweat sores on my thighs had opened up again and when they dried up my clothes were stuck to my skin. I could not walk. Hajj Omar’s driver and the man sitting next to me picked me up and helped me undress. They carried me to the shower. They were prudish looking fellows, but they helped me because I was in such a bad way.”
Locked in another cell
Martin showered but then realised he had no clothes to wear. “When I was released I was still wearing the same clothes I had been captured in ten days before.” He was provided with overalls, which thankfully fit, but what came next was a big shock.
“Hajj Omar, who is the head of a North African organisation that deals with hostage negotiations, came up to me and said I was safe and arrangements for my return were being made. But I would be placed in a cell for my own safety.”
The former AFM Captain grew afraid and pleaded with the men not to lock him up again. “I told them I had spent the last ten days locked up in a cell and they were going to lock me up again. I told them I was a foreigner without documents and I would be forgotten and left to rot in the new cell.” In the end, he walked into the cell and the door was locked.
A miracle at 3.30am
Martin would find out the reason for his second ‘detainment’ during the night. “A miracle occurred that night at 3.30am. The guard commander, Otman, came up to me and said there was a call for me. I went into the guard room and picked up the receiver. Then I heard her voice; Martin? This is Marisa Farrugia, the Consul. I have been searching for you for a week. She had the voice of an angel.” During the 30 minute conversation, Dr Farrugia explained that she had instructed the soldiers at the barracks to lock him up. “She said that if someone came in and saw me walking around they would have identified me immediately.”
Marisa Farrugia told him that Mr Omar’s driver would pick him up later and take him to the Consulate to meet her. On Monday morning he tried calling Dr Farrugia again but they would not let him. He was told that a driver would pick him up.
“Some time after noon they came for me. I recognised Hajj Omar’s driver but they told me to get into a second car.” One of the two men accompanying him identified himself as Sami. Martin would later find out that he was a new Libyan MP. Sami told him that they would pass through some checkpoints and told Martin that, if anyone asked, he was his electrician.
Marisa greeted me at the door
A few minutes later they arrived at the consulate. Marisa Farrugia was waiting outside. “I burst into tears when I first saw her. She gave me food and drink and gave me a change of her husband’s clothes to wear for the flight back. I was surprised they fit. I went down from a 38 waist to a size 32.”
They then left for the airport. Martin was wearing Dr Farrugia’s sunglasses, trying to cover his face as much as possible.
When they arrived at Mitiga airport Mr Galea grew fearful again because he had no documents. Everything had been taken from him. “Marisa told me a Medavia plane was waiting and we should just walk through the airport. I was holding her bag, trying not to look suspicious.”
Stopped by immigration
They were stopped by an immigration officer. “I turned to Marisa and thanked her for everything. I said I will get caught and never leave this country. I thought that was the end of the story.”
Mr Galea says Marisa Farrugia stepped in and argued with the immigration officers, who were insisting that Martin would not be allowed to travel without a passport. “Marisa, that angel, went into the immigration office and in three minutes flat obtained permission for us to board the plane. I have no idea how she did it, but she managed to convince them. I still cannot believe what happened.” The two then boarded the plane and returned to Malta.
Back on Maltese soil
“When I landed on Maltese soil I looked up and said thank you. Then I turned to Marisa and hugged her. She is the woman I love most, after my wife. Only I know what she did for me. She was the one who found me in those barracks. She communicated with Hajj Omar, and she got the guard commander’s phone number, no one else. No bigwig in this country ever contacted me. How can I not thank her? I will remain grateful to her for as long as I live.”
Martin’s wife, Sue, joins in. “Marisa was the one contact I had over there. She told me she was handling the case herself and she was in touch every single evening to tell me how things were progressing and that she was doing her best to save him. She told me she had located him but it was difficult but she is the one contact who kept us going.”
Back to ‘normal’ life
Upon his return to Malta, Martin was conveyed to Mater Dei Hospital. He was treated for diarrhoea, a high white blood cell count, sores and an eye infection. “Thank God I made it out alive with only bumps, cuts and scratches.”
Would he go back to Tripoli, we asked. “I have nothing against Libyans, against Muslims. But until these scum who want to destroy Libya are removed I will not go back there.”
Martin is now trying to settle into a normal life, but his Libya ordeal will undoubtedly leave a permanent mark on him. He now has to apply for a new passport and ID card and sort things out with the bank after having all his documents and credit cards stolen. He is also looking for a job. “But at least I am alive, thanks to Marisa Farrugia, and thanks to my wife, who kept me going, kept me from bashing my head against a wall.”
I prayed for a quick death
You've read the story, now hear it from him
Other foreigners held captive with Martin Galea