26 Apr Canadian Hostage John Ridsdel Beheaded by Abu Sayyaf After Ransom Deadline Expired on Monday
Image Source | www.cbc.ca
Yesterday, the Philippine army said that residents found a severed head on a remote island, specifically in the centre of Jolo town five hours after a ransom deadline expired demanded by Islamist militants who had threatened to execute one of the their four captives. It was confirmed that the head belonged to a former mining executive 68-year old Canadian tourist John Ridsdel who was kidnapped on September 21 last year at a luxury resort on Samal island.
With this unfortunate event, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau expressed outrage calling the beheading an act of “cold-blooded murder”.
Earlier, two Canadian men, that includes Ridsdel, one Norwegian man and a Filipino woman, appealed in a video for their families and governments to secure their release. And according to an army spokesman, a ransom of 300-peso (£4.4m) for each of the captives was demanded by the Abu Sayyaf militants to be paid by 3pm local time, otherwise, to behead one of the four captives. Until the deadline passed by, resulting to such violence. The initial demand was actually 1 billion pesos each for the captives.
A similar event occurred on November last year where Abu Sayyaf decapitated a Malaysian hostage, the same day with the arrival of Malaysian prime minister who attended an international summit held in the Philippines.
Other foreigners who came from Netherlands, Japan, Malaysia and Indonesia are currently being held as captives by the Abu Sayyaf militants.
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