Philippines - Canadian beheaded by terrorists, April 2016

dotr

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2009
Messages
51,315
Reaction score
142,679
http://cnews.canoe.com/CNEWS/Canada/2016/04/25/22627094.html
Cdn hostage's severed head found after ransom passes

Trudeau confirmed the victim was 68-year-old John Ridsdel of Calgary.

Ridsdel was one of four tourists -- including fellow Canadian Robert Hall, a Norwegian man and a Filipino woman -- who were kidnapped last Sept. 21 by Abu Sayyaf militants from a marina on southern Samal Island.

The militants had threatened to kill one of the three male hostages if a large ransom was not paid by 3 p.m. Monday local time -- 3 a.m. ET.

Philippines police said a plastic bag containing Ridsdel's decapitated head was dumped in a street Monday night by two men on a motorcycle in Jolo, a town in Sulu province.

Trudeau said he was "outraged" by the news.

"Canada condemns without reservation the brutality of the hostage takers and this unnecessary death," Trudeau said in a hastily assembled appearance before the media in the midst of a cabinet retreat.

"This was an act of cold-blooded murder and responsibility rests squarely with the terrorist group who took him hostage."

Trudeau said the Canadian government is committed to working with the Philippine government and international partners to "pursue those responsible for this heinous act and bring them to justice."
 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/hostage-philippines-ridsdel-militants-1.3551416

john-ridsdel.jpg
Family devastated after John Ridsdel killed by captors in Philippines
Abu Sayyaf militants had issued deadline for ransoms on former Calgarian and 3 other hostages


Family of John Ridsdel say they are devastated by his death at the hands of kidnappers in the Philippines.

They say his life was "cut tragically short by this senseless act of violence despite us doing everything within our power to bring him home."

Ridsdel was one of four hostages, including fellow Canadian Robert Hall, held by the Abu Sayyaf militants since last September.

The kidnappers had issued a ransom deadline that lapsed Monday morning. Evidence of a beheading was found along a street in Jolo town in Sulu province, according to Jolo police Chief Supt. Junpikar Sitin.

Mourning a 'great guy'

In a statement from the family, Ridsdel was described as "a kind and gregarious person who touched everyone he knew with his enthusiasm and generosity. He loved life and lived it to the fullest with his family and friends at the centre.

"He was loved by all his friends and adored by his daughters, sister and extended family. He will be sorely missed for all our days to come."

"He was a great guy," Sandy Hunter told CBC News. He was the best man at Ridsdel's wedding, and the two were former colleagues at CBC Calgary and Petro-Canada.

canadian-hostages-robert-hall-john-risdel-oct-15-2015.jpg
Canadians Robert Hall, left, and John Ridsdel, middle, and Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad appeared in a YouTube video appealing to the Philippines government to stop military operations.
 
http://cnews.canoe.com/CNEWS/Canada/2016/05/03/22629424.html

Warning: The following story contains disturbing details.

Filipino terror group Abu Sayyaf released a video showing the gruesome beheading of Canadian hostage John Ridsdel as well as a second video threatening to behead their remaining Canadian hostage, Robert Hall.

Ridsdel, 68, and Hall, 50, were kidnapped in September from the Oceanview resort on Samal island along with two other hostages.

Ridsdel's head, which was placed in a plastic bag, was dumped by motorcycle-riding militants April 25 in Jolo town in impoverished Sulu, a densely forested province about 950 kilometres south of Manila. Military officials said two days later a body was found beside a dry creek in a mountain near neighbouring Talipao town.

Rita Katz called the video "brutal, barbaric, extremely graphic, and most disturbing." It has since been removed from YouTube.

"If you procrastinate once again the negotiations we will behead this all anytime," an Abu Sayyaf spokesman says, followed by chants of "Allahu akbar!'”

Hall speaks as well, begging for his release.
 
Good god... what a horrific way to die. Rest in peace, John.
My condolences to his loved ones.
Thoughts and prayers also go out to the family of Robert ! :(
 
http://www.cp24.com/news/troops-kill-militant-blamed-for-beheadings-of-canadians-in-2016-1.3365152
April 12, 2017
MANILA, Philippines -- Philippine troops battling militants in a central province have killed a key Abu Sayyaf commander who had been blamed for the beheadings of two Canadians hostages in 2016.
The Philippines military chief of staff Gen. Eduardo Ano told The Associated Press that troops have recovered and identified the remains of Moammar Askali, who used the nom de guerre Abu Rami, in the scene of the battle in a far-flung coastal village on Bohol island
Askali was blamed for the kidnappings of John Risdel and Robert Hall in September 2015. The Canadians had been taken from a marina by Abu Sayyaf gunmen along with a Norwegian man, Kjartan Sekkingstad, and Hall's Filipino girlfriend, Marites Flor.

The militant group demanded a ransom, which Canada refused to pay, and both Canadian men were beheaded last year.
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
162
Guests online
2,630
Total visitors
2,792

Forum statistics

Threads
590,031
Messages
17,929,195
Members
228,043
Latest member
Biff
Back
Top