Steen, Alann (1940–)

Alann Steen, a professor of journalism at Beirut University College, was one of the last American hostages to be released in Lebanon.

Steen was abducted during the series of kidnappings of Western foreigners that followed Terry Waite's final trip to Beirut. Waite, the Anglican envoy and hostage negotiator, had been sent to Lebanon to secure the release of several Western hostages. Steen's was the tenth kidnapping in two weeks.

On January 24, 1987, a Saturday afternoon, gunmen dressed in the olive-colored uniforms of the Lebanese police carried out a mass kidnapping on the Beirut University College campus. Four gunmen drove into the campus in a Nissan patrol jeep, claiming to have been assigned to provide protection for all foreign professors. Once inside, they asked the university staff to congregate in the ground floor of the living quarters. Steen, along with three others—Jesse Turner, a ...