A French humanitarian worker who was freed in Mali after four years in captivity has revealed she is a Muslim.
French media reported that Sophie Petronin who was welcomed by President Emmanuel Macron when she arrived at Villacoublay airport, southwest of Paris announced her conversion to Islam.
“My greatest joy today is knowing that my assistant was able to continue working without me. For Mali, I will pray, implore Allah’s blessings and mercy, because I am a Muslim. You say Sophie, but you have Mariam in front of you,” Petronin was quoted by French daily Le Point.
The 75-year-old aid worker who runs an orphanage was kidnapped by an armed group in northern Mali’s Gao region in December 2016.
She appeared in a video published by a group calling itself Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb seven months later.
Petronin was released alongside Malian opposition leader Soumaila Cisse and two Italian nationals, Father Pierluigi Maccalli and Nicola Chiacchio.
More than 100 fighters were freed in exchange for the hostages by the military junta that ousted President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in the August 18 coup.
