Omar Bin Amran is a 45-year-old man from Algeria who was held captive in a neighbor’s sheep pen for at least 27 years, according to police. Video emerged showing the victim being discovered in the hole, which was filled with hay.
The Arabic-language Algerian newspaper Echorouk reported that the victim “has been detained for 30 years in a sheep pen in his neighbor’s house.” The newspaper reported that the “young man,” also named “Amira,” has been “missing for 30 years.”
According to The National News, the victim’s name is Omar Bin Amran. That site says he was “held in a cellar only a few hundred metres from his family home.”
Now 45 years old, he was discovered on May 12, the site reported.
The Social Media Video Shows the Omar Bin Amran Being Rescued From the Hole
A man who vanished almost 30 years ago at the age of 17 following an alleged kidnapping has been found alive in his neighbour’s house in a hole in the ground in a sheep pen underneath stacks of hay
His family assumed he had been killed during the civil war in the 1990s
Social media video shows the moment police found him on May 12, helping him out of the pen, which, according to The National News, “was concealed under bales of hay.” He was “unable to speak,” the site reported.
The suspect “lived alone and worked as a civil servant,” reported The National News, adding that the suspect’s neighbors called him a “mysterious man.”
“This is a true tragedy and we thank God that we were able to find our son,” one of Mr bin Omran’s uncles, Karim Rgueb, told local media outlet El Djazair N1, according to The National News.
The owner of the home where the prison was found was identified by his initials B.A., according to Echorouk, which reported that he is now accused of crimes, including kidnapping, “detaining a person without an order from the authorities and outside the cases permitted by law,” and “human trafficking when the victim is vulnerable.”
According to Echorouk, seven other people also appeared before the judge because they were accused of not informing authorities. The man was detained in the municipality of Al-Qudid in Algeria, according to Echorouk, which added that a complaint was filed with police after social media posts.
“Following this report, the Public Prosecutor at the Idrisiya Court ordered the National Gendarmerie to open an in-depth investigation,” Echorouk reported, adding that the suspect is the owner of the house and is 61 years old.
“The perpetrator of this heinous crime will be pursued with all the rigor required by the laws of the Republic,” prosecutors told Echorouk, which added that the victim was given “medical and psychological care.”
The Suspect Is Also Accused of Poisoning the Dog of Omar Bin Amran
Man who vanished aged 17 is discovered ALIVE in a hole after being held captive by his neighbour for 27 YEARS
Kidnapped man is found alive in neighbour’s cellar after 27 years
The same basic details were printed in another Algerian Arabic-language newspaper called ElKhabar, which said the initials of the accused are B.H. That site also reported that the suspect is accused of poisoning Amran’s dog because it was drawn to his scent.
According to Daily Mail, which reported that he was missing 27 years, the victim was 17-years-old when he disappeared and is one of nine siblings.
Daily Mail reported that he was “found alive in his neighbor’s house in a hole in the ground in a sheep pen underneath stacks of hay,” adding that his family believed he was killed in a civil war. He vanished on his way to vocational school and the family did search for him, Daily Mail reported.
According to Daily Mail, it was the suspect’s brother who “aired grievances on social media, reportedly due to an inheritance dispute,” causing the victim’s family to “storm the house in a search for Omar.”
According to the Daily Mail, a neighbor told Algerian TV station Bilad: “His poor mum died while he was in captivity, without knowing what had happened to him, without knowing that all this time he was really right beside her.”