British man charged over Syria journalist kidnappings

British police on Tuesday charged a man with kidnapping two Western journalists in Syria, one week after he was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport, Scotland Yard said. Shajul Islam, 26, is alleged to have "unlawfully and injuriously imprisoned" photographers John Cantlie from Britain, and Jeroen Oerlemans from the Netherlands, between July 17 and 26, it said in a statement.
Islam, who is a British national, acted "together with others," it said. He will appear in court on Wednesday. A 26-year-old woman who was arrested at the same time has been released without charge. She has not been named. The man and the woman were detained by officers from the counter-terrorism command on October 9 after arriving on a flight from Egypt. Officers also searched two homes in west London. Cantlie and Oerlemans were abducted by suspected Islamist militants while covering the fighting between President Bashar al-Assad's regime and rebel fighters.