KEY POINTS:
At first it seemed like just another day at the office for freelance cameraman Olaf Wiig, as six armed men bundled him and Fox journalist Steve Centanni into a pick-up truck in Gaza City.
For seven years Wiig had been filming from the front lines of global hot
spots, so the scene unfolding on August 14 was familiar territory.
But families and friends - even Wiig himself - feared the worst as the ordeal stretched to 13 days. And the outlook turned bleaker after Wiig was told who was pulling the strings of his captors - the Holy Jihad Brigades.
"They said the guy who had us was Gaza's answer to [deceased Iraqi al Qaeda boss Abu Musab] al-Zarqawi, and our hearts absolutely sank," Wiig said.
"Part of the motivation for these guys was to make videos like al-Zarqawi to announce their arrival in Gaza, and the end frame of those was somebody's head lying on the floor. That was the most terrifying part of the ordeal."
While Wiig and Centanni were trying to stay alive, a diplomatic team - spearheaded by Wiig's wife, Anita McNaught - gathered in Gaza.
As Ms McNaught made public pleas for their release, Wiig was privately being grilled about his views on Islam and involvement in the War on Terror. When his captors learned he was a New Zealander, he was told his nationality was his ticket to freedom but Centanni would be killed.
"I spent the next hour negotiating for Steve's life," Wiig said.
Wiig and Centanni eventually befriended their captors and, although they spent their days in a 3m-by-3m concrete room, they never lacked food or water. Wiig's captors even catered to his vegetarian needs.
The pair were also forced to make videos, the first of which was a comforting message to family. But it was the exception.
"We made a whole bunch that were much more frightening, confessional videos - what you did in Iraq, why you were in Afghanistan - about our involvement in the War on Terror."
Finally, on August 27, they were taken to the Beach Hotel. The relief was overwhelming.
"The joy of seeing my colleagues and Anita there at the top of the stairs just completely blew me away."
The hostage-takers were locals who studied al Qaeda and believed they could alter international politics. But they were answerable to others that kept below the radar and whose motivation was local - not the official demand for the release of all Muslim prisoners in American jails.
"There were probably a bunch of things that were being negotiated behind closed doors that we'll never know about," Wiig said. "I'll forgive them for the discomfort of my days but I don't think I could ever forgive them for what they did to my family."
The ordeal has made Wiig realise the value of his passport.
"Being a New Zealander was absolutely one of the most important factors. New Zealand came in at a level that the United States and British governments cannot. The British can't sit at a table with Hamas."
After a relentless stint in the media spotlight, Wiig retreated to his farm in Sussex.
"That's what keeps me sane. I go into stressful, insane environments and come back and look after horses and do normal things. It makes you realise the whole world isn't crazy, only bits of it."
He also worked in his other profession as a designer and spent summer in Wellington building a bach for a client. But he remains committed to journalism.
"It's really important that journalists go to these places and let the rest of the world know what's going on. I'm booked to go back to Baghdad in January."
