Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brenan released!

Finally some good news. The hell that Amanda and Nigel had to endure for 16 months is over.

It seems like $1 million was handed over to al Shabaab for Amanda and Nigel's release. Although I'm happy that Amanda and Nigel are finally free again, paying terrorists ransom will only encourage further kidnappings in the future.

From Canada.com

"I was released about four or five hours ago. We were released in Mogadishu. But the how's of that are better to wait, because my mom has advised me not to say anything about anything because we're surrounded now by armed soldiers that are in place to keep Nigel and I safe. But the country is really dangerous, so until I'm out of the country I just don't think it's a good idea to say anything.

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A real tragedy: Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brenan still held captive

Compared to Rusty's post, this is a real tragedy. Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout and Australian photojournalist Nigel Brenan have been held captive by al Shabaab for over 14 months. Initally, al Shabaab demanded $2.5 million for their release but since then have lowered their demands down to $100,000.

Lindhout and Brenan have recently been moved from Mogadishu to a remote location some 120 km south of Somalia's captital. Al Shabaab feared that Canadian authorities were tracking the whereabouts of Amanda and Nigel.

Al Shabaab have seriously mistreated their hostages to say the least. It has been reported that Amanda Lindhout was impregnated after being raped multiple times. To add insult to injury the terrorists named Amanda's baby Osama.

Now this is a real tragedy. I pray for the safety and well being of Amanda and Nigel and for them to return safely home to their families.

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Somalis reduce ransom for Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan

Last week the Somali fixer who had been kidnapped along with Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan was released. Now the kidnappers have reduced their initial ransom demand of $2.5 million for Amanda and Nigel down to $100,000.

Paying these kidnappers only encourages more kidnappings and the money goes towards terrorists. Hopefully Amanda and Nigel are released quickly without having to pay the ransom. National Post

Somali kidnappers holding Alberta journalist Amanda Lindhout and Australian photographer Nigel Brennan have reportedly dropped their ransom demand to US$100,000, the head of a Somalia press freedom organization said yesterday.

Dad Abdi Daud, executive director of Mogadishu-based Somali Journalists Rights Agency, said the new ransom demand, which is a drop from the original US$2.5 million demanded by a tribal chief involved in the negotiations in September, signalled a positive development in the plight of Ms. Lindhout, 27, and Mr. Brennan, 35, who were kidnapped at gunpoint outside the Somali capital of Mogadishu last August.

"Now they want $100,000," said Mr. Daud, in a telephone interview yesterday with Canwest News Service. "You can see the difference."

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Somali released, Lindhout & Brennan still held captive

The Somali fixer, Abdifatah Mohamed Elmi, who was kidnapped along with Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan was released recently. Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan are still being held captive but no new news about their well-being has surfaced. The kidnappers had demanded $2.5 million US for the release of Amanda and Nigel back in September or else Amanda and Nigel would be murdered.

We hope that Amanda and Nigel will be released soon. But the kidnappers shouldn't see a penny. That would only encourage more kidnappings. National Post

A Somali journalist and driver kidnapped along with Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout last summer said Friday he had given up all hope of being freed after more than 100 days in captivity.

Abdifatah Mohamed Elmi said he was kept blindfolded in a room the entire time, and none of his kidnappers spoke to him until the end of his captivity.[...]

Elmi said he had no information about the well-being or whereabouts of Lindhout, of Sylvan Lake, Alta., or Brennan, and that he was not held hostage in the same location as the two.

"When we were captured, we all shut our eyes, then we go to a place that I don't know where I was, why we go there," Elmi said. "I haven't seen the other colleagues that were with me."

He said he rarely heard the kidnappers talk about the two foreigners.

"I asked them: ‘Where is my colleagues?' They couldn't say," he said. "Sometimes I hear that they are still alive, but I don't know the reality."

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Amanda Lindhout and Brennan 'not well and mistreated'

Not good. Parachute the JTF and SAS in there and extract them! Xinhuanet

MOGADISHU, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- The two foreign journalists and their Somali colleague held hostage in Somalia for nearly two months are unwell, mistreated and need medical attention, father of the Somali journalist said Tuesday.

Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout and Australian photographer Nigel Brennan along with their Somali colleague, cameraman Abdelfitah Mohamed Elmi, was kidnapped Aug. 24, on their way to the internally displaced people camps on the outskirts of Mogadishu, the capital, where they intended to interview and photograph some of the hundreds of thousands of the displaced people there.

"I was told that my son and his colleagues are unwell and have been mistreated," Mohamed Elmi, father of the Somali cameraman, told a news conference in Mogadishu. "They need medication and their freedom."

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