The return of the previous hostage to Lebanon

US citizen Joseph Cicippio, who spent more that five years as a hostage of the Revolutionary Justice Organization in Lebanon, returned to Beirut.

He said: "I returned to Lebanon for the first time and I am happy to meet my friends and visit the campus of the American University", where he spent two years working and living during the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990).

The Revolutionary Justice Organization announced, in September 1986, its responsibility for the kidnapping of Cicippio from the university's campus, where he worked as deputy comptroller. He was released on December 2, 1991, after passing more than five years in captivity.

He professed Islam for one year before his kidnapping and said, "Really, after one week of my release, I thought of continuing my work in the university, but, the university administration refused."