Free Amanda Lindhout

Amanda Lindhout forgives captors

2010-08-24T15:08:00.000-07:00

Alberta journalist Amanda Lindhout, who was freed last year after being kidnapped in Somalia, told CBC News in a one-on-one interview that she has forgiven her captors.

Lindhout and Australian photographer Nigel Brennan were freed last November, 15 months after gunmen in Somalia snatched them in August 2008. A ransom was reportedly paid to secure their release.

Lindhout said she was kept alone in rooms with no light and little food in houses throughout Somalia and held for ransom under "extremely oppressive" conditions that included torture and beatings.

At the time, Lindhout said her and Brennan's kidnappers were criminals posing as freedom fighters.

In an interview, Lindhout told the CBC's Curt Petrovich she had a choice to make when she came out of captivity.

"You can very easily go into anger and bitterness and revenge thoughts and resentment and 'Why me?'" said Lindhout.

While there were moments when such thoughts popped up in her mind, she dismissed them quickly, she said.

"Because I had something very, very large and very painful to forgive, and by choosing to do that, I was able to put into place my vision, which was making Somalia a better place," Lindhout said.

Lindhout's vision is to empower Somali women by educating them through a scholarship fund. She is raising money, one donation at a time, by talking to whoever will listen, including church and community groups, throughout Alberta and elsewhere.

One recent Sunday, she spoke to a small church congregation in Sylvan Lake and managed to raise $4,500, which is enough to send four women to university in Somalia for a year.

Aurala Warsame, a researcher at the University of Alberta in Edmonton who is from Somalia, vetted the first applicants to Lindhout's scholarship program and is monitoring their progress.

Warsame has helped Lindhout pick 11 women for the scholarship this year. Two are planning to study environmental protection, another wants to work as a counselor to youth traumatized by war. Lindhout's goal is to put 100 Somali women through university.

"I've never questioned whether or not it was the right thing to do," Lindhout said. "What else to do after the experience that I had, than something like this?"

Amanda Lindhout sets up scholarship for Somali women

2010-05-20T09:29:00.000-07:00

Freelance journalist, Amanda Lindhout, who was held captive in Somalia for 15 months is hoping to send 10 Somali girls to school this fall through a scholarship program she has set up.

Lindhout met with members of a Red Deer congregation Sunday, thanking them for praying for her while she was kept captive.

"I was abused in many ways that were justified in accordance with a very strict interpretation of Islamic law and I feel a great deal of empathy and compassion for the women who continue to suffer there," said Lindhout.

The freelance journalist who was captured along with Australian photographer Nigel Brennan in August 2008 says she has set up a scholarship program to help girls in war-torn Somalia get an education.

"I said to myself, ‘if I get out of here I want to dedicate my life to helping other people,'" she said.

Lindhout is hoping to send 10 Somali girls to school this fall and another 100 over the next four years. Radio broadcasts in the safer parts of Somalia will spread the word about the scholarships Monday. In more dangerous areas the news will be spread by word-of-mouth.

"We can't advertise it publically because yes, there could be repercussions for girls in southern Somalia to be seen taking a scholarship from an unbeliever," said Lindhout.

Lindhout says she works on forgiving those who captured her everyday, but those in her hometown believe she has already has.

"Just setting up this scholarship fund is, in and of itself, an act of forgiveness," said Pastor Gary Bomhof from the First Christian Reformed Church.

The mayor of Sylvan Lake agrees.

"It shows the unbelievable strength that Amanda has to recognize the needs in that country," said Mayor Susan Samson.

However, Lindhout says it is the women of Somalia who deserve praise.

"I'm inspired by the resilience and strength of their spirit," said Lindhout. "Powerful social and economic change takes place when a woman is educated."

Amanda Lindhout puts inspiration to work

2010-05-17T19:29:00.000-07:00

My point of view

2009-12-06T20:55:00.000-08:00

If Amanda would want the domain of course I will give it her . I am not selfish and not looking my my own pocket. It will do up to her to do what she wants with it. If and when Amanda communicates with we will come to an understanding .Yes I have other blogs on "how to make money" and similar topics. but that is for my internet experience. Amandalindhout.com has tought me many things, one being that if someone wants to do something good for someone else we have and need to find the bad into it.
We are people I don't blame you . In the whole 15 months of having this blog it has generated 40.00$ in revenue . Plus Google doesnt not pay when account is less than 100.00$ .Wow I became a millionnaire in 15 months I took advantage of her situation, yah right ,so far it is in google pockets, I haven't made any money of her and won't.
Just be happy that she is alive and back with her family. And as far as this blog goes When it's time to do whatever I need to do I will. The right thing will be done.

Let's live our lives with love and not jealousy or hate..

Amanda Back in Canada This Week

2009-12-06T12:03:00.000-08:00

The canadian goverment will send a plane to get Amanda and her family back to Canada early this week.
At last she will be back on canadian grounds.

Welcome back , enjoy being back woth your family.

Free At last

2009-11-25T11:57:00.001-08:00

Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout has been freed in Somalia after 15 months in captivity, along with Australian photographer Nigel Brennan.
In a telephone interview from Mogadishu on Wednesday afternoon, Lindhout told CTV News Channel that she had only been freed for a few hours and provided minimal details on the process that led to her release. Lindhout acknowledged that a ransom was paid to her and Brennan's kidnappers, and that money "was paid by our families."
"I believe they are taking that money and, as far as I understand, they plan on leaving the country," she told News Channel.
"It's a long story. It's been sort of going on for the last couple of weeks, and tonight finally everything came together and the men who had kidnapped us turned us over to the federal government in Somalia. They've now taken us to a hotel and it sounds like tomorrow, we'll be in Nairobi," Lindhout said.
Lindhout, originally from Sylvan Lake, Alta., and Brennan have been missing since August 23, 2008, when they were kidnapped near Mogadishu.
She remembered the day she was kidnapped and described the circumstances to CTV.
"I was going to research a story about some of the IDTs -- the internally-displaced people -- in Somalia and on our way there one morning, our vehicle was ambushed and we were taken by a group of gunmen who then proceeded to take us around the country and keep us in different houses, extremely oppressive conditions, myself and another freelance photographer from Australia (Brennan)," Lindhout said.
She said she knew little about her kidnappers.
"I don't think it was political -- you know 15 months with these men and I don't know very much about them. But I think, from the information that I've gathered, I think that it was criminals -- criminals under the guise of being freedom fighters for Somalia."
Lindhout said she was beaten and tortured while in captivity.
"It was extremely oppressive. I was kept by myself at all times. I had no one to speak to. I was normally kept in a room with a light, no window, I had nothing to write on or with. There was very little food. I was allowed to use the toilet exactly five times a day," Lindhout said.
"So, basically, my day was sitting on a corner, on the floor, 24 hours a day for the last 15 months. There were times that I was beaten, that I was tortured. It was an extremely, extremely difficult situation."
The kidnappers told her that they were beating her because the money "wasn't coming quickly enough."
"They seemed to think that if they beat me enough, then when I was able to speak to my mother - which they would put me on the line with her every couple of months - that I would be able to say the right thing to convince her to pay the ransom for me, which was $1 million.
"Of course, my family didn't have $1 million and it didn't matter what I said to them. But they didn't really understand that. They thought: She's Canadian, everyone in Canada is rich. She must have $1 million."
The phone calls to her mother were "very short and they were usually scripted on my part," Lindhout said.
"My mother wasn't allowed to ask any questions and I also wasn't allowed to say what I wanted to say. They would come to me beforehand with a pen and paper, and sort of guide me and tell me what I needed to say to her. And it was always wonderful to hear my mother's voice but the circumstances that we were talking were not very happy."
She acknowledged that she was forced to call media outlets.
"That was another one of their ideas to get money. They always had in their mind that if my family wasn't going to pay, that the government wasn't going to pay. And of course, the Canadian government does not pay ransom, but they thought that if they kept trying and using the media, that eventually the government would pay my ransom."
Lindhout believes she was held in at least 11 different houses, in Mogadishu and in areas south of the city.
She said that she never felt any sympathy for her captors, and additionally, that it is unlikely that they will be caught.
"Because Somalia is a completely lawless country, really," Lindhout said. "It would be easy for them to disappear into the country and I don't think we ever really the saw the leaders of this, so we would never be able to identify them and I think they'll be able to leave the country, which is what I think they are planning on doing easily."
Through her ordeal, Lindhout said she went through "some pretty dark moments."
"I think human beings have an enormous capacity to adjust to trying circumstances and it was the idea of coming home, a reunion with my family, that kept me going," Lindhout said.
"In that darkness, I would just try to escape in my mind to a sunny place, usually Vancouver -- in my mind -- I would imagine running around Stanley Park and things like that, and that kept me going."
Moving forward, Lindhout hopes to reunite with her family, at which point she plans to "sit down and reevaluate my whole life."
"I just want to take the next couple of months and spend it with my family."
It was only through her family's "tireless efforts," that she is still alive and has been freed from captivity, Lindhout said.

Pressure on Canadian Goverment to release Amanda

2009-10-28T14:30:00.000-07:00

According To ctv.ca ,
there has been a lot of pressure to our canadian goverment for her release. The goverment is trying to keep this story hush hush. We need to get her free and back to her family were she belongs.

We can do so much more for her release, What is taking the goverment so long to act? We don't know but they don't want to put her life in jeopardy.

If only the somalians could find it in them to release her.

To our goverment
please get Amanda and Nigel out of Somalia .

Thank you

So Sad But True

2009-10-16T00:57:00.000-07:00

But still no news on Amanda and Nigel. Nobody wants to do anything to help her. We should keep on praying for them and keeping it up and they will be home.

"Pray today for Tomorrow a better day"
Post your comments and prayers

A Canadian journalist's year in hell

2009-08-23T04:44:00.000-07:00

Friends and family despair while Canadian government stays mum on kidnapping in Somalia

As anniversaries go, it's a bleak one – and only Amanda Lindhout herself truly knows how bleak.

It was one year ago today that the Alberta-bred journalist and two colleagues were kidnapped at gunpoint in Somalia, plucked from a road near Mogadishu.

Since then, little has been seen or heard of the 28-year-old Sylvan Lake native, aside from a mute video of her and Australian reporter Nigel Brennan kneeling before their masked and armed captors aired on Al-Jazeera television weeks after they disappeared, and a few scattered, horrifying calls to media outlets by a distraught woman claiming to be Amanda Lindhout in recent months in which she essentially pleads with the Canadian government to save her life.

'I don't know how much longer I can bear this'
AMANDA LINDHOUT, Canadian journalist being held captive in Somalia

The last was made to Omni TV three weeks ago: "I don't want to die here and I'm afraid I'll die in captivity if I don't get help soon," she sobbed, saying she was kept in shackles in a windowless room and suffering from fever, dysentery and an abscessed tooth. "I don't know how much longer I can bear this."

Just days before, the Somali news site Waagacusub.com furthered long-circulating rumours of rape by reporting that Lindhout had given birth to a baby boy and was "very contented with her marriage relationship with one of her captors."

It has also been reported that Lindhout has escaped at least twice, only to be recaptured.

She and Brennan are being held for a ransom initially set at $2.5 million (U.S.), but reportedly reduced to several other sums since. One of the journalists captured with her, a Somali, was released in January.

Lindhout's father, John, and her mother, Lorinda Stewart, have been silent, likely for fear of upsetting fragile negotiations. But on Friday, they offered a statement with the Brennan family through Reporters Without Borders.

"Together, the two families continue to work tirelessly to secure Nigel's and Amanda's safe release," it read.

"With little outside support, the families, who have been united as one throughout this horrendous ordeal, continue to do everything and anything to gain the earliest possible release for their loved ones Amanda and Nigel. Our thoughts and all our love are with Amanda and Nigel today, just as they have been for the past 365 days, and just as they will be until they are safely home with us."

If the government has made any progress towards bringing Lindhout home, it's keeping mum.

Enquiries are greeted with variations of the terse response given all year that, "Canadian authorities continue to pursue all appropriate channels to seek further information about Miss Lindhout's welfare" and will not share information that might "compromise these efforts and jeopardize the safety of a Canadian or other citizen."

Foreign Affairs spokesman Rodney Moore acknowledged this is "roughly what has been said before. ... Nevertheless, that's where we are on this and we remain there."

Rightly or wrongly, a perception of inaction on Lindhout and Brennan's case is growing – especially in cyberspace, where a Google search of "Free Amanda Lindhout" now yields more than 10,000 returns.

It's sufficient, in any case, that a Calgary-based risk-management firm, Diligence Ltd. – one of whose specialties is "kidnapping and ransom support" – was moved on Friday to hand the Department of Foreign Affairs its own extensive intelligence file on the kidnapping.

"If they decide to act on it, at least they've got some information. If they don't, then at least we tried to help. Somebody's got to do something, right? If we don't do anything, who is?" said Diligence CEO Daniel Clayton, who met Lindhout in Iraq when they were working there, and has quietly taken up her cause even though she's not a client.

"We have the location of where she is. We have a cellphone number for the group that's actually holding her. We have a lot of credible intelligence. Enough to mount a rescue if the government was so inclined."

Part of Lindhout's problem, he said, is that she's a freelancer who willingly went into a war-ravaged country where she was flatly advised by her government not to go and has neither the might nor the money of a huge corporation nor "kidnap and ransom insurance" to support her. What would be best for her situation now, he suggested, is a "high-profile visit from a Canadian diplomat, somebody like Peter MacKay or even (retired) general Rick Hillier. Government to government."

Brennan's mother recently cornered Australian Prime Minister Paul Rudd to demand he do something to free her son. But until Friday's statement, Lindhout's family had been even more silent than Foreign Affairs. Even friends had a hard time finding anything out.

"I talked to her dad on one occasion four months ago. He sounded a little bit hopeful that things were going to go down, but he couldn't tell me anything at the time," recalled Lindhout's former travelling companion, Taron Hall, reached in Vancouver. "I was trying to pry a little bit more out of him and he said, for her safety, he couldn't say anything."

Reporters Without Borders had little to add to the families' statement, but Canadian vice-president Dennis Trudeau did remark it was "strange" that this kidnapping had taken so long to resolve.

"In the past, kidnappings and hostage takings in Somalia have not gone on this long, and we don't really understand why it's gone on so long," he said, urging the government to do everything it could "to make it all work out."

At the same time, Canadian Association of Journalists president Mary Agnes Welch was preparing "a diplomatically worded angry letter" to Prime Minister Stephen Harper "just to ask him again to take a personal interest in this case." All Lindhout and Brennan's journalistic colleagues would like to see, she said, is "tangible evidence" that there's been some forward momentum.

"We have no idea if they're making progress, if they know where she is – we just have no idea if anything has really changed in the last year," said Welch from Winnipeg. "We would never want the government to shoot its mouth off and put her in even more danger, but we would like some assurance that this is at least on their radar and that some progress is being made."

Strong words and letters will be no comfort to Lindhout and Brennan until they yield results. The two have both reportedly become grievously ill after a year of bad water, little food and daily mistreatment, and Lindhout's most recent pleas – "My government must have some duty to help me," she told Omni TV – suggest they feel as though they've been forgotten by their own nations.

It's a helpless place to be, said James Loney, a Toronto resident who was kidnapped in Baghdad in 2005 and held for four months while serving with Christian Peacemaker Teams .

"I remember the first day, I thought I couldn't stand this for 24 hours and they'd better let us go immediately," Loney said. "And then, after that first day, I thought `Oh my god, I can't imagine doing this for another day.' And then it was a week. And then I thought `I can't imagine doing this for another week.' And then it was a month and I couldn't imagine doing it for a month.

"And I remember the 100th day was kind of a milestone. I just thought a lot that morning of 100 days and how did this happen that it was 100 days, and part of me was not exactly proud, but surprised and astonished that I'd got through 100 days somehow ...

"If Amanda goes to a year, I suspect for her it will be a grim and desperate anniversary."

Comin up on August 23 One year later.............

2009-08-18T20:00:00.000-07:00

On e year later and Amanda and Nigel are still kept hostage in Somalia. What would it take to release them peacefully?
Please leave your comments..
Let's all pray for a safe return for Amanda and Nigel.
Pray , pray ,pray.

You will be back home.

Somali PM 'very optimistic' Canadian journalist will be freed

2009-06-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

The prime minister of Somalia offered new hope Thursday that Canadian freelance journalist Amanda Lindhout, abducted outside Mogadishu almost 10 months ago, could soon be freed.

But he said, "I'm very optimistic that in the very near future we will have freed those two journalists."

Canadian Goverment Does not help Canadians Overseas

2009-06-17T23:06:00.000-07:00

Ottawa is not required to help out Canadians in trouble overseas. A law should be passed to protect us

How sad is this.
That If Canadians are in trouble elsewhere then too bad. Who takes such crazy insulting decisions on our people.?

No laws govern this relationship, the government says. As then-Mr. Justice Konrad von Finckenstein of the Federal Court wrote in an earlier case, “Canadians abroad would be surprised, if not shocked, to learn that the provision of consular services in an individual case is left to the complete and unreviewable discretion of the minister.” Except for the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the minister's exercise of the prerogative is absolute.

To translate: If you are in trouble overseas and go to a Canadian embassy, Canada's government believes that it has the option, but not the obligation, to help. If the government is fond of you, like Brenda Martin, it may help with papers or a private jet home, but if it scorns you, like Mr. Abdelrazik, it may revoke your passport and exile you. The choice is the government's alone.

Wake up Canada and take examples from other goverments.
Other governments long ago passed laws that bind their discretion and make it mandatory to help their citizens abroad. For example, the German Constitutional Court has written that the German state has “a constitutional duty to provide protection for German nationals and their interests in relation to foreign states.” In the United States, a similar obligation is included in statutes requiring the government to provide consular services.

What do you say?

'My life is worth more than any money' said Amanda

2009-06-11T03:35:00.000-07:00

Tearful and her voice breaking, a woman claiming to be Canadian freelance journalist Amanda Lindhout said she'll die in captivity if the Canadian government doesn't pay the ransom her captors are demanding in exchange for her freedom.

"I'm in a desperate situation," she said. "I'm being kept in a dark, windowless room in chains without any clean drinking water and little or no food. I've been very sick for months without any medicine."

The woman phoned CTV news in Toronto late yesterday afternoon and read a statement in which she pleaded for Canada to pay for her release.

"The Canadian government must have some duty to help its citizens in such a crisis and my fellow citizens can assist me by putting pressure on my government," she said. "I love my country and I want to live to see it again. Without food or medicine I will die here."

She said the only way to secure her freedom was to pay the gunmen holding her hostage. She begged her family and "fellow journalists in Canada" to do all they could to bring attention to her situation and find a way to ransom her.

"[My family] must deal directly with these people as my life depends on it. My life is worth more than any money spent."

Ms. Lindhout is a freelance journalist from Sylvan Lake, Alta. She went to Somalia in August, 2008, on a freelance project for a French television station. She and Australian photographer Nigel Brennan, were abducted on Aug. 23 - just three days after Ms. Lindhout's arrival - while trying to visit a displaced-persons camp outside the capital city of Mogadishu. Several other people were reportedly taken captive at the same time and have since been released.

Ms. Lindhout has been held captive in an undisclosed location since then, but has made calls to news agencies begging for assistance.

Ms. Lindhout contacted the Agence France-Presse news agency in late May, saying that she would die a prisoner if her captors didn't receive $1-million. Agence France-Presse reported the exchange sounded like a prepared statement, and that when an AFP reporter asked her for details on her health, she replied, "I cannot answer any question that you have. What I just said, that's all I can say."

In the same interview, Mr. Brennan said he had been shackled for four months and was running a high fever.

Last week the Toronto Star reported a man phoned the paper from Mogadishu offering a similar interview three days after the AFP exchange, but the Star turned down the offer for fear of compromising Ms. Lindhout's chances of freedom.

Ms. Lindhout's friends, family and supporters have used websites, Facebook pages and YouTube videos to drum up support for the woman people on the sites describe as a "brave girl" who was worried for her safety.

Please Sign Petition to Help Free Amanda & Nigel

2009-05-30T18:15:00.000-07:00

Hi,
I signed the petition "Free Journalists Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan". I'm asking you to sign this petition to help us reach our goal of 10,000 signatures. I care deeply about this cause, and I hope you will support our efforts.
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/2/free-amanda-and-nigel

A five minute window for Amanda

2009-05-25T16:57:00.000-07:00

According to AFP, They obtained a five minute phone call to Amanda and Nigel.
What was said from Amanda to the AFP
" I have been sick for months. Unless my government, the people of Canada, all my family and friends can get one million dollars, I will die here, OK that is certain," Lindhout said, sounding very distressed.

Freelance journalist Amanda Lindhout and photographer Nigel Brennan spoke to an AFP correspondent in Mogadishu by phone for five minutes on Sunday from an undisclosed location.

The call was obtained after weeks of efforts to establish contact with the hostages, who appeared to be reading or reciting a statement, possibly under duress. There was no independent confirmation of their identities.

"I have been sick for months. Unless my government, the people of Canada, all my family and friends can get one million dollars, I will die here, OK that is certain," Lindhout said, sounding very distressed.

She urged the Canadian government to give more help to her family's attempts to secure her release after 274 days in detention with Brennan. The pair were abducted while on a freelance assignment.

The call was made through an intermediary, who claimed to be speaking on behalf of the kidnappers.

A Somali journalist and two drivers who were captured with Lindhout and Brennan were released on January 16.

"The situation here is very dire and very serious. I've been a hostage for nine months, the conditions are very bad, I don't drink clean water, I am fed at most once a day," Lindhout said.

"I'm being kept . . . in a dark windowless room, completely alone," she added.

"I love my country and I want to return so I beg my government to come to my aid. Likewise, I ask all my fellow Canadian citizens and my family to contribute in any way possible in order to help me finally be released from Somalia and be able to return home," said Lindhout.

Brennan also said that the nine months of detention had taken a heavy toll.
"I've been shackled for the last four months . . . My health is extremely poor and deteriorating rapidly due to extreme fever," he said.

"I implore that my government help me as a citizen of Australia (inaudible) . . . I ask for the help of my family in every way possible so that the ransom can be paid for my release," Brennan said.

"I love my country very much, I love my family, my girlfriend," he added.

When the AFP reporter asked Lindhout further details on her health situation, she said she was not able to take further questions.

"I cannot answer any question that you have. What I just said, that's all I can say," she said.

In Australia, a foreign ministry spokesman said: "We are doing all we can to help the families and media coverage will not help negotiations."

from The Calgary Herald

Talks to free Canadian journalist kidnapped in Somalia stalled

2009-05-20T20:10:00.000-07:00

Some terrible news about Amanda's and Nigel's situation. According to Ambroise Piere, the Africa desk chief for Reporters Without Borders, said last week that talks to release has halted.

Amanda A brave Girl

2009-05-18T08:26:00.001-07:00

According to Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi, who was alongside Amanda and Nigel when they were kidnapped

"Amanda, she was the most brave girl of us, five"

says Mr. Elmi
"She started the first connection of us. Since we were so afraid to be killed, she started to sign."

Sliding quietly to the edge of the room and sitting near the doorway, they started to converse every day with a few improvised hand signs.

"She said to me, 'Don't worry, we'll go out. Stay strong,' " said Mr. Elmi, gesturing with his hands as he spoke.

Mr. Elmi had worked for two days with Mr. Brennan and Ms. Lindhout. They had videotaped government forces, followed the African Union on a de-mining operation and visited the shelled-out ruins of a colonial-era church.

On the third day, they set out from the Shamo hotel in Mogadishu along a 30- kilometre stretch of sandy road leading west to a town to report on displaced-persons camps in the region.

But that day they left without a security detail, which is normally considered imperative for foreigners travelling even the shortest distance beyond the guarded confines of hotels in Mogadishu.

Mr. Elmi said that arrangements were made through a local fixer for security to meet them along the way. But when their car stopped less than an hour later beside a black 4x4 with tinted windows, the occupants turned out to be the kidnappers.

Ms. Lindhout was being held alone in a room furnished with only a single mattress and was dressed in a traditional Arab robe when Mr. Elmi last saw her before his release Jan. 15.

"The last days I saw Amanda, she was feeling very worried," he said, though she appeared to be in good health and unharmed.

On May 23rd do your part

2009-05-12T17:48:00.000-07:00

May 23 is nine months since they have been kidnapped.
Just a reminder to pray and light a candle to help them get through a tough event in their lives.

Take a couple of minutes of your lives to pray or light a candle for Amanda and Nigel.

Everyone is invited to do what they feel. Light a candle and say a prayer do they can get through it

Everyone is welcome. We care. We will bring them back. They will go home to theirfamilies. They will rise above all this
Join the event on facebook click here

Thanks

Somalia: Abducted Canadian journalist is pregnant

2009-04-08T12:05:00.000-07:00

MOGADISHU (Mareeg)--Amanda Lindhout, a Canadian journalist who was abducted by Somali gunmen in the Somali capital Mogadishu about eight months ago is reportedly pregnant after she was apparently raped by her abductors, sources told Mareeg’s office in Mogadishu on Wednesday.

Sources say the Canadian journalist Amanda and an Australian photojournalist are being held by the militia in the northeastern neighbourhood of Suqa Holaha neighborhood in Mogadishu.

The abductors have demanded $2.5 million of ransom from the two journalists to release.

Amanda and the Australian photojournalist once escaped from a house in Suqa Holaha neighnourhood and entered a mosque near by, but they were recaptured again.

File photo of Amanda

The militia who kidnapped the journalists claims they are al-shabab Islamists. Some reports suggest that one the abductors made Amanda as his wife.

The journalists were kidnapped between the Afgoye district and the capital city with their Somali photojournalist, Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi, who was acting as a translator for the two in September 2008, but Abdifitah was released after 5 months.

Abdiftah said that he did not see Amanda and colleague since the militia abducted them.

A dangerous year for journalists

2009-04-06T17:29:00.000-07:00

Geneva 2009 is taking on signs of being more dangerous for journalists than 2008, the Press Eblem Campaign said on thursday.

In the first three months of 2009, 35 journalists have been killed, including eight in march. Two died in Afghanistan, two in Iraq, and one each in India Pakistan, Russia and Honduras.

During the first quarter of last year, 20 journalists were killed. In total in 2008, 91 died on duty.

The Geneva-based campaign said kidnapping also remained a looming threat to reporters.

Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout and Australian photographer Nigel Geoffrey Brennan, abducted last summer, were still in captivity in Somalia. Khadija Abdul Qahaar, also from Canada, has been abducted in Pakistan since late 2008.

Two American reporters were also captured last month by North Korea, which claimed they had illegally crossed the border from China.

The campaign asked the United Nations Human Rights Council to hold a special session on the threats to journalists during its summer.

Abducted UN aid workers freed in Somalia

2009-03-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

The four United Nations aid workers kidnapped by unknown gunmen in southern Somalia have been released and are safe, officials say.

The aid workers, three of them foreigners, were abducted Monday as they were traveling in their car to the airstrip near Wajid, 340km (210 miles) northwest of the capital Mogadishu.

They were on their way from Puntland in northern Somalia to Kenya when they were snatched by about 20 armed men.

Press TV has learned that the aid workers, working for the World Food Program and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), were released after negotiations between local elders and the abductors and that no ransom was paid to obtain the aid workers' release.

UN officials speaking on condition of anonymity also confirmed the release, saying the men are in good health and are now back in a UN compound.

Foreign journalists and aid workers are frequently attacked by armed gangs in Somalia; the kidnappers usually free their hostages after receiving ransoms.

In 2008, some 35 aid workers were killed and 26 others abducted in the war-ravaged country.

We all wish Amanda and Nigel are next to be freed...

A picture I found that is interesting

2009-03-11T00:10:00.000-07:00

The National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ) expresses its grave concern about the fate of the three freelance journalists who were kidnapped on Saturday 23 August 2008. Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi, Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brenan were abducted at KM13, western suburb of Mogadishu between Afgoye district and the capital city.

Understanding Somalia issues

2009-03-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

Another day goes by and still no news from Somalia. Here is inofrmation on Somalia.

Pirates:
These were fishermen who were angry over illegal fishing. Now it has become a businessand criminals are getting into it for the money.

Civil war in Somalia:
Before, it was former generals of a dictatorship fighting each other as warlords. Now it's Islam extremists fighting over ideology, and this is what I fear because it can happen in any town, any place."

Goverment:
"Politics in America is easier, because you don't have to start from scratch," he said. "In Somalia, if you want to be a politician, you can't just join a side. You have to start your own."

The big lack of goverment does not help any situation in Somalia. No trust in people for others.

My personal opinion

2009-03-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

In response to the post on the facebook group of Amanda's Release.

The donation is for my blog and my blog alone and not for Amanda and Nigel's release.
Please no offence .
I 'am not taking advantage of any situation. My effort inthis blog has been more than a freebie from me.

I have learned a lot on Amanda and Nigel . I have read a lot on Somalia and The non-goverment they have or do not have.Somalia has been kidnapping for so long and how they take hostage ships for ransoms.

I will make this blog noticed to as many people I can.
It is important to know that who we are and who they are.
It is important to share as much information we can

IF it was up to me I would raise the money for her release on my own.
The blog has much information for Amanda and her kidnapping, i don't need to take credit for it.
Just like I've said many times I do not know Amanda nor Nigel but felt very bad for her situation.
People should not hurt others. Violence is a creation that forces us to act on it.
I don't like any action of violence. I will make an effort to raise enough money to get Amanda and Nigel out of the situation they are in. All their hard work should be compensated worth the release of both.

My blog get average 2000 views a month. not enough people are aware of the situation.
We need to let other know about it.

Thank you and appreciate any comments

2009-02-06T17:17:00.000-08:00

There's new but unconfirmed details about the situation involving kidnapped journalist Amanda Lindhout of Sylvan Lake.A prominent Somali contact for western journalists seeking updates on the fate of Lindhout and her Australian colleague says the pair made a brief escape late last month and have not been heard from since.

Daud Abdi Daud, Executive Director of Somali Journalists Rights Agency says the pair, in his words, "came close to being killed" on January 26th.Daud says Lindhout and Nigel Brennan escaped in Mohgadishu and ran to the shelter of a mosque.He says, "they appealed to the holy men in the mosque for protection and were told to hide behind the chair of the senior Mulla who was reading the Holy book".

Daud claims two gunmen fired shots inside the mosque and when the militia arrived Amanda Lindhout and Brennan were forcibly removed and were pushed into a car.Daud also says Lindhout reportedly tried to throw herself out of the car without success.