So there are a bunch of articles on this and I read them and can summarize thus:
One Omar bin Omran disappeared from Djelfa, Algeria in 1998. He was 19 years old at the time. The Algerian Civil War (Algerian government vs. a bunch of Islamist insurgent groups) was raging at the time and wouldn’t end until 2002. His family assumed he’d been killed or kidnapped by the Army or one of the Islamists. At least 20,000 people were kidnapped over the course of the war, which is sometimes referred to by Algerians as the Black Decade, and 200,000 or so were killed.
Such disappearances from war zones are common. They’re happening in Ukraine right now, as I blogged about months ago. They’re happening in Gaza too, more than 7,000 as of last month. They happen whenever society falls to pieces.
That’s not, apparently, what happened to Omar bin Omran, though, because he resurfaced the other day hiding under some hay in sheepfold in a neighbor’s basement. The National Post says he was found “just 10 metres from his home” but quote-tweets an account called Morbid Knowledge which says the distance was 200 meters. He is now 45 and, per Al Jazeera, claims he was held captive by a 61-year-old doorman (identified as “BA”).
Omar says he actually saw his family occasionally from afar but was unable to call out to them due to a “spell” his captor cast on him. Al Jazeera says the crime was discovered “after the suspect’s brother posted revealing information on social media, amid an alleged inheritance dispute between the siblings.” Which I think means BA’s brother knew he was hiding a man in his basement and decided to denounce him because he was mad at him over the inheritance thing.
BA has been arrested. He’s accused of killing Omar’s dog as well as kidnapping Omar. Photos of Omar with the dog were distributed by his family searching for him the year he went missing. I don’t know why BA (allegedly) killed the dog.
Omar is now being given medical and psychological care. Unfortunately he was found too late for his mom, who died in 2013. I don’t really know enough about Algerian culture to comment on the “he cast a spell on me” thing; it sounds really weird from an American perspective but perhaps beliefs in magic are common in Algeria? He could even have been speaking metaphorically, basically saying he was too scared of his captor to call out to his family.
This is a very peculiar story and I think there’s probably a lot more to it, but I don’t know if more will be reported in English language media. Check out the aforementioned Morbid Knowledge tweet for pics of Omar, and his dog.
The Charley Project Blog 
I read that Omar’s dog had begun hanging around the abductor’s house after Omar vanished. He’d never done so before, so the implication is that the dog may have known Omar was inside. Or certainly, that’s what the abductor believed. It’s not clear if it was long believed BA killed the dog or if it’s only now that Omar has been found that it seems likely.
I had been wondering why he would’ve killed the dog. Probably the dog could smell Omar. Too bad it couldn’t talk.
I know! It’s interesting that 26 years later, the dog is even remembered. I wonder if the brother told the story.