The kidnappers appeared to be very religious, continuously praying on the Koran. (Sgrena in Guardian atricle)

The kidnappers were not strict Muslims (Sgrena in interview translated in German newspaper)

Normal, very very normal. Eyewitnesses, in particular after having had fear for their lives (or having felt strong emotions for encountering something unexplainable to them), adapt their recollection of the event to the script they later consider the most likely to have happened to them. In particular, during the first days the story often changes. Some days later, in particular for people retelling the story quite often, the story settles for a more permanent version.

Not because of herself Ms Sgrena cannot be trusted to report each detail correctly, anybody in her situation would be like her.

BTW, for those liking to point out that she was working for a communist newspaper, she was also working for DIE ZEIT, the most respectable very middle of the road German weekly newspaper.

Wolfgang