The Italian government has said that an elderly couple and their son, who were kidnapped by jihadists in Mali in May 2022, have been released, adding that they were in good health and due to return to Rome.
The family were Jehovah’s Witnesses who were reportedly planning to set up a church when they were abducted from their home outside the southern city of Koutiala alongside their Togolese domestic worker, whose fate remains unclear.
The Italian government, in a statement, said the release of the couple, Rocco Langone and Maria Donata Caivano, and their son, Giovanni, was secured by Italy’s intelligence agency and the foreign ministry, thanks to their contacts with community leaders and Mali’s intelligence agencies.
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