LINTHICUM, Md. — An American writer who went missing in Libya for months returned to the United States on Saturday night, telling reporters he went to the Middle Eastern nation to participate in the uprising against dictator Moammar Khadafy and was on a reconnaissance mission when he was captured.
Matthew VanDyke, 32, was met by dozens of friends and relatives and members of the media when he arrived at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
Earlier this year, VanDyke was working in Baltimore on a book and film about a motorcycle trip across the Middle East and Southeast Asia when he decided to witness the uprising in Libya.
He disappeared during a day trip to Brega in March and wasn’t heard from until he was freed from the infamous Abu Salim prison in Tripoli in August. After he was freed, VanDyke said he would remain in Libya until Khadafy fell from power. He later joined rebel fighters.
VanDyke spent more than five months in solitary confinement in Libyan prisons. The Associated Press
