Steen Hospitalized After Arrival in Detroit

Released hostage Alann Steen was taken to the emergency room of a hospital en route from Detroit Metropolitan Airport to his wife’s home Saturday, officials said.

Officials at Annapolis Hospital would not say why he had been brought in.

Wayne County Sheriff’s Lt. Robert McGraw said Steen suffered a seizure immediately after leaving the airport. “He’s in the hospital. They’re keeping him overnight,” McGraw said, declining to give Steen’s condition.

Earlier, Steen and his wife, Virginia, spoke briefly before leaving by limousine for Clark Lake, a rural community about 75 miles away where Virginia Steen and her parents live.

The former Beirut University College communications professor said he had no immediate plans for the future, other than to send out resumes for teaching positions, even in the Middle East again.

“They have a lot of problems in the Middle East . . . but I would very much like to go back and I wouldn’t mind teaching,” he said.

He and his wife laughed when asked about the extent of brain damage from being beaten and kicked in the head by his captors, saying it was “overblown.”

On Friday, Steen, 52, shopped in downtown Wiesbaden, Germany, where he received medical attention and was debriefed at a U.S. military hospital after his release Tuesday.

Steen bade farewell Saturday in Germany to fellow hostage Terry A. Anderson, the last American to be released and the longest-held Western hostage. Anderson was released Wednesday.

Anderson went jogging Saturday in Wiesbaden, attended Mass and underwent more medical tests. Doctors reported that the freed hostage is running a slight fever but that a minor lung ailment is clearing up.

Even though he was the longest-held American captive, Anderson seemed to be more fit than many who were freed before him. However, he was expected to spend a few more days recuperating at the U.S. military hospital at Wiesbaden.

Anderson, a Roman Catholic, attended Mass at the chapel of the military hospital with a small group of Associated Press colleagues and friends, and planned to attend again today, officials said.

Shiite Muslim kidnapers held Anderson, chief Middle East correspondent of the Associated Press, for more than 6 1/2 years in Lebanon.

Anderson, who jogged Friday, ran again Saturday around the hospital grounds, the U.S. military said. His “low-grade fever” would not prevent him from jogging again today, officials said.