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Couple Arrested on Suspicion of Involvement of Hotel Bombing Released

Aired December 02, 2002 - 11:17   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: An American woman and her Spanish husband are free this morning after being detained by Kenyan police. CNN's Sheila MacVicar has their ordeal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For three days, they were suspects, arrested, interrogated, searched. As unlikely as it seems, suspected of being part of the terrorist network that blew up the Paradise Hotel and tried to down the Israeli airliner.

ALICIA KALHAMMER, ARRESTED AFTER BOMBING: It was surreal. It was totally surreal. I thought we were in a bad movie.

MACVICAR: Alicia Kalhammer, the daughter of former American diplomats who once lived in Kenya and her husband, Pepe Tena, were staying in this hotel the morning of the attacks. Many of the other guests were Israelis and everyone was very frightened.

PEPE TENA, ARRESTED AFTER BOMBING: They were nervous. They were crying, they were calling the embassy to see what they could do on their side to get out.

MACVICAR (on camera): The most sensible thing to do is just...

KALHAMMER: Get out of dodge.

MACVICAR (voice-over): They didn't know the Kenyan police had issued an order after the attacks to detain anyone checking unexpectedly out of a hotel. When they went to leave, the police arrived.

KALHAMMER: They said OK, we're getting in the car and we were taken to Mombasa.

MACVICAR: The hours crawled by. They managed to persuade a Kenyan guard to lend them his mobile phone and called a friend in Nairobi who called the U.S. embassy and they waited for the Americans. It felt like a very long time.

KALHAMMER: I saw those two men first and I said they're here. They're here. These are the Americans, they're here. And I just burst into tears like the calvary is here.

MACVICAR: The ordeal wasn't over. The U.S. embassy had found them, but the Kenyans weren't ready to let them go.

KALHAMMER: For me, that was the most horrifying because all of a sudden things changed and I was on a high and then bam, right back down again.

MACVICAR: It was another 18 hours before they were finally freed, but remarkably, they are not angry.

TENA: We were at the wrong place at the wrong time but they could have gotten the right guys or the wrong guys like they did. Maybe they get the right ones next time.

MACVICAR (on camera): Is your first insticnt to get on a plane and go home.

TENA: No, absolutely not.

KALHAMMER: These people aren't go to scare us out of our vacation, my former home. There's no way. I mean I feel very comfortable here. After all this happened, I still feel very comfortable here.

MACVICAR: Comfortable enough to continue their trip through Kenya and come to terms with being a footnote in the war on terror.

Sheila MacVicar, CNN, Mombasa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Bombing Released>


Aired December 2, 2002 - 11:17   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: An American woman and her Spanish husband are free this morning after being detained by Kenyan police. CNN's Sheila MacVicar has their ordeal.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHEILA MACVICAR, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For three days, they were suspects, arrested, interrogated, searched. As unlikely as it seems, suspected of being part of the terrorist network that blew up the Paradise Hotel and tried to down the Israeli airliner.

ALICIA KALHAMMER, ARRESTED AFTER BOMBING: It was surreal. It was totally surreal. I thought we were in a bad movie.

MACVICAR: Alicia Kalhammer, the daughter of former American diplomats who once lived in Kenya and her husband, Pepe Tena, were staying in this hotel the morning of the attacks. Many of the other guests were Israelis and everyone was very frightened.

PEPE TENA, ARRESTED AFTER BOMBING: They were nervous. They were crying, they were calling the embassy to see what they could do on their side to get out.

MACVICAR (on camera): The most sensible thing to do is just...

KALHAMMER: Get out of dodge.

MACVICAR (voice-over): They didn't know the Kenyan police had issued an order after the attacks to detain anyone checking unexpectedly out of a hotel. When they went to leave, the police arrived.

KALHAMMER: They said OK, we're getting in the car and we were taken to Mombasa.

MACVICAR: The hours crawled by. They managed to persuade a Kenyan guard to lend them his mobile phone and called a friend in Nairobi who called the U.S. embassy and they waited for the Americans. It felt like a very long time.

KALHAMMER: I saw those two men first and I said they're here. They're here. These are the Americans, they're here. And I just burst into tears like the calvary is here.

MACVICAR: The ordeal wasn't over. The U.S. embassy had found them, but the Kenyans weren't ready to let them go.

KALHAMMER: For me, that was the most horrifying because all of a sudden things changed and I was on a high and then bam, right back down again.

MACVICAR: It was another 18 hours before they were finally freed, but remarkably, they are not angry.

TENA: We were at the wrong place at the wrong time but they could have gotten the right guys or the wrong guys like they did. Maybe they get the right ones next time.

MACVICAR (on camera): Is your first insticnt to get on a plane and go home.

TENA: No, absolutely not.

KALHAMMER: These people aren't go to scare us out of our vacation, my former home. There's no way. I mean I feel very comfortable here. After all this happened, I still feel very comfortable here.

MACVICAR: Comfortable enough to continue their trip through Kenya and come to terms with being a footnote in the war on terror.

Sheila MacVicar, CNN, Mombasa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Bombing Released>