Updated

South Africans have gathered at a community center to call for the release of a South African freelance photographer who was abducted in Syria.

People at Wednesday night's vigil prayed and held signs calling for the safe return of Shiraaz Mohamed, who was kidnapped on Jan. 10 while traveling with aid workers to Syria's border with Turkey.

Mohamed had been traveling with members of Gift of the Givers, a South African group that provides aid to Syrian civilians affected by their country's civil war.

The group says Mohamed was abducted near a medical facility that it operates, and that the armed kidnappers said they would release him after two days.

However, Mohamed was not released.