Jackie Mann
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Jackie Mann (1914-1995) was a British former RAF fighter pilot who was kidnapped by Islamic Jihadist terrorists in Lebanon in May 1989, and held hostage for more than two years.
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[edit] Early Life
During World War II, Mann was a squadron leader and Spitfire pilot who fought in the Battle of Britain. In 1946 Mann and his wife Sunnie moved to Lebanon where they subsequently lived for over 40 years. Jackie worked for Middle East Airlines and ran the Pickwick pub when he retired. Sunnie, ran a successful horse riding school.
The couple met and married in wartime London when Sunnie was an ambulance driver and Jackie had crash-landed his Spitfire in Kent and was recovering from severe burns.
[edit] Kidnap
On the 13th May 1989, Mann was kidnapped in Beirut by Khalaya al-Kifah al-Musallah or "Armed Struggle Cells", a previously unknown terrorist group linked to the pro-Iranian Shi'ite Muslim militant organisation, Hezbollah.
The group demanded the release of Palestinian prisoners it claimed were being held in Britain and who were accused of killing Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali in 1987. No-one linked to the murder was being held by UK authorities.
The British embassy had warned three days before Mann was seized that a Shi'a group was preparing to take another Western hostage. The Foreign Office and British embassy in Lebanon had renewed warnings to British citizens still living in Beirut to leave immediately following the Salman Rushdie affair in February of that year.
[edit] Release
Jackie Mann was eventually released on September 24th 1991 after negotiations by the British and US governments succeeded in bringing about the release of several Western hostages. He had spent time with other UK and Irish hostages, notably journalist John McCarthy, church envoy Terry Waite and author Brian Keenan.
On his release, he was taken firstly to Damascus, Syria, where he was reunited with his wife, and then flown by VC10 to RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire, and spent some time recuperating and debriefing in the Officers' Mess, before returning to normal life.
His health suffered greatly during captivity and he never really recovered. He had been kept for prolonged periods in solitary confinement, sometimes in chains. He lost over 18 kilograms in weight and suffered from heart and lung problems. He also suffered from a skin problem which required medication after being badly burnt when he was shot down as a pilot.
After his release, Jackie and Sunnie Mann settled in Greek Southern Cyprus, in the capital Nicosia.
The couple wrote a book in 1992 called Yours Till The End: Harrowing Life of a Beirut Hostage. Sunnie also wrote Holding On in 1991.
Sunnie Mann died in November 1992 from lung cancer.
Jackie Mann died on 12th November 1995. He was 81 years old.
