29 Oct 2019

Hope remains for Louisa Akavi in Syria

From Checkpoint, 5:47 pm on 29 October 2019

While the death of the Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has made headlines around the world, it has also prompted fresh questions closer to home.

The United States is now looking to release photos and video of the raid that led to his death - Al-Baghdadi killed himself by detonating an explosive vest during a US special forces operation in northern Syria at the weekend.

And that has once again raised the question - what has happened to the New Zealand nurse Louisa Akavi?

She was kidnapped at gunpoint in Syria more than five years ago. The New Zealand government, and allies on the ground in Syria and Iraq, have been trying to find her ever since.

It was believed she was held hostage by IS for most of that time.

RNZ political editor Jane Patterson joins Lisa Owen with the details.