Family provide update on Algerian man held captive by neighbour for 26 years

A man who was held captive for almost 30 years just metres away from his house has been reunited with his family.

Omar Bin Omran disappeared in the Algerian city of Djelfa 27 years ago when he was a teenager.

His family assumed the 17-year-old had died during the civil war that was raging between the government and Islamist fighters in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

But Omar had been living just 200m from his loved ones, in a hole covered by stacks of hay underneath a sheep pen after he was allegedly kidnapped by a neighbour.

Footage of his rescue shows a disheveled and bewildered looking Omar, now aged 45, look up to his rescuers.

Now his cousin Khaled Reggab has provided an update on Omar’s condition after the decades-long nightmare.

He said his relative was not in a ‘critical’ state but he is ‘shocked, more than shocked, MailOnline reports citing Echorouk News.

When Omar went missing, his dog reportedly pined for him outside the neighbour’s home for weeks- before allegedly being poisoned by the captor in attempt to ward the family off, according to Algerian newspaper El Khabar.

Mr Reggab said the family was in a ‘catastrophic’ shock after receiving the news that Omar was alive.

Sadly the discovery came more than a decade after his mother died before finding out what happened to her son.

He told Echorouk News: ‘I have no information about him but according to what I saw his health condition is good, it is not critical.

‘His psychological state is shocked, and more than shocked, he is afraid, especially since he was detained, meaning he is not accustomed to being (outside).

‘Omar is still under therapeutic and psychological care at this minute. I see them (his family) in a catastrophic shock.’

The victim was found on May 12 after the captor’s relative took to social media to air grievances reportedly due to an inheritance dispute.

Omar’s family then stormed the house, where they eventually located him.

The suspected captor attempted to escape, but he was restrained and then arrested.

Omar’s uncle Karim Rgueb said it is a ‘true tragedy and we thank God that we were able to find our son,’ The National reports citing local outlet El Djazair N1.

According to Algerian media reports, Omar told relatives he was unable to escape because he was under a ‘spell.’

Mr Reggab said: ‘This matter is puzzling. The (sheep pen) belongs to the residence and he has some sheep. It has piles of hay and Omar was covered with all this hay.

‘Even when we asked him, why didn’t you shout or try to resist or leave the house and so on, his answer was very simple. He said literally ‘I was not able to even speak or even walk.’

Now Omar is receiving medical and psychological care, according to the Algerian Ministry of Justice.

The authorities described the crime as ‘heinous,’ saying that the investigation was still ongoing, MailOnline reports.

They promised the ‘perpetrator of this heinous crime’ will be tried with ‘severity.’

A court official in Djelfa said: ‘Two days ago, on 12 May 2024, the Public Prosecutor’s Office received, through the regional department of the National Gendarmerie in El Jadid, a complaint against an anonymous person claiming that the complainant’s brother, Omar bin Omran, who has been missing for about 30 years, is in the house of one of his neighbours, inside a sheepfold.

‘Following this report the General Prosecutor of the Court of Idrisiya in the province of Djelfa ordered the National Gendarmerie to open an in-depth investigation and officers went to the house in question.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.