Algiers Province, Algeria - January 22, 2025 The Spaniard Joaquín Navarro, kidnapped in Algeria on 14 January and released on Tuesday 21 January, said on Wednesday in Algiers that he is still in a ‘state of shock’ because of the ‘complicated’ moment he has gone through and asked for a few days to be able to recover a state of calm and tranquillity’.

Algeria’s Defense Ministry reported late Tuesday that Spanish tourist Gilbert Navarro, kidnapped earlier this month near the country’s southern border with Mali, has been safely recovered. According to the ministry, Navarro was handed over to the army’s security services and is unharmed.

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — A rebel alliance in Mali said Tuesday it has freed a Spanish man who was kidnapped in southern Algeria last week. The Azawad Liberation Front, or FLA, a coalition of separatist armed groups in Mali’s predominately Tuareg north, said on X that it freed Spanish citizen Gilbert Navarro.