A group of six Canadian media organisations have banded together to petition the Canadian government and help raise awareness of the kidnap of freelance journalists Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan in Somalia over one year ago,

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) is launching a campaign, joined by the Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ), Canadian Media Guild (CMG), the National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada and PEN Canada (NEPMCC), asking the federal government to do everything in its power to bring home Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout and her Australian colleague Nigel Brennan. link

CAJ president Mary Agnes Welch is careful to note that this new petition is not about media attention,

“is about personal action. Media attention could jeopardise the safety of Amanda and Nigel” link

This petition follows on from an earlier petition which, according to one commenter who appears to have created the petition, has kind of lost steam.

Amanda Lindhout is not the only Canadian freelance journalist being held against her will. Beverly Giesbrecht was kidnapped in the region between Pakistan and Afghanistan in November, 2008. She is still being held.

We’ve followed this kidnap story very closely since August 23, 2008 when the duo were captured, reportedly on the outskirts of Mogadishu a they were heading to an refugee camp. You can see the timeline of events in the graphic above.

If you’d like to add this constantly updated graphic to your website, blog or social networking site please go to Frontline Club on Dipity and grab the “embed widget” and follow the instructions for embedding into your site. Meanwhile here are the contents of the petition letter,

The Right Honourable Stephen Harper, P.C., M.P.
Prime Minister of Canada
Langevin Block
Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A2

Dear Prime Minister,

We, the friends, supporters and colleagues of Amanda Lindhout, join with the undersigned organisations to ask the Canadian government to make it a top priority to work for the immediate and unconditional release of Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout and her Australian colleague Nigel Brennan.

The two journalists have been held in captivity in Somalia for over a year. We urge you to commit full governmental support and resources to work with Amanda’s and Nigel’s families to bring them home. A year is too long – efforts must be redoubled.

Please do everything in your power to bring Amanda home to Canada.

Yours sincerely,

Canadian Association of Journalists (CAJ)
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE)
Canadian Media Guild (CMG)
National Ethnic Press and Media Council of Canada (NEPMCC)
PEN Canada link

While the world welcomes the release of US/iranian journalist Roxana Saberi and the analysts pile in with their take of what it all means for US/Iranian relations, roughly 125 journalists remain behind bars around the world according to the Committee to Protect Journalists. 

The Iranian-Canadian blogger Hossein Derakhshan, arrested in Tehran on November 2008, slips on and off the media radar. However, he has received nowhere near the attention of Saberi or Current.tv journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee, who were arrested in North Korea in March, 2009. Journalist kidnap cases fare no better. Freelance hacks Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan, who were kidnaped in Somalia some eight months ago, and Beverly Giesbrecht, held on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan since November, 2008, have all but disappeared off the mediascope along with their ransom deadlines.

It appears Roxana Saberi is a better "fit" for today’s US media – new US administration and what it might mean for US/Iranian relations and her former beauty queen status offers editors a cheap, but irresistable tag to hang the story on. Writing on Salon.com, Glenn Greenwald does an excellent job discussing the Roxana Saberi story and highlights a number of cases of journalists being imprisoned where the US media have either chosen to forget, ignore or in some way deem them less newsworthy their plight. In particular, he mentions the story of freelance photographer Ibrahim Jassam,

Right now — as the American press corps celebrates itself for demanding Saberi’s release in Iran — the U.S. continues to imprison Ibrahim Jassam, a freelance photographer for Reuters, even though an Iraqi court last December — more than five months ago — found that there was no evidence to justify his detention and ordered him released.  The U.S. — over the objections of the CPJ, Reporters Without Borders and Reuters — refused to recognize the validity of that Iraqi court order and announced it would continue to keep him imprisoned.

One finds only a tiny fraction of news coverage in the U.S. regarding the treatment of al-Haj, Hussein, Jassam and these other imprisoned journalists as has been devoted to Saberi. link

The Silobreaker graphic above illustrates the media attention given to Amanda Lindhout in Somalia, Ibrahim Jassam in Iraq, Euna Lee in North Korea, Beverly Giesbrecht on the Afghan/Pakistan border and Roxana Saberi in Iran over the last six months. Ibrahim Jassam has all but completely disappeared from the media. How convenient.

Silobreaker claims to draw upon "approximately 10,000 news, blog, research and multimedia sources" for its data compared to the 4,500+ sources Google News uses.

A ransom offered to the Taliban kidnappers of Beverly Giesbrecht has reportedly been rejected according to a report on the Globe & Mail newspaper. Giesbrecht, a Canadian freelance journalist who also goes by the name of Khadija Abdul Qahaar, was kidnapped four months ago in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The kidnappers have made several ransom demands since Novemeber, 2008 and issued a threat to kill the 53 year old on March 30 if their demands were not met,

She was kidnapped by gunmen who reportedly work for the Taliban commander, Gul Bahadur. A close aide of Mr. Bahadur told The Globe and Mail he would request a deadline extension in order to continue negotiations over the size of the payment.

“But one thing, which I want to make clear is that they [Taliban] are serious,” said Qari, who asked to be identified by one name only.

“They [the Pakistani and Canadian government] demonstrate stubbornness to pay ransom and get her released,” he said. “Now we will reciprocate with the same attitude.” link

The Globe & Mail reports that a ransom demand of $375,000 has been made by the Taliban kidnappers of Beverly Giesbrecht who has been held hostage since November 2008. The paper says the demand came during an interview with a man calling himself Qari on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border who said only money would secure her release,

“Once negotiators approach the Taliban … then definitely they will work out the timing and conditions for her release,” [Qari] said.

“She is safe and sound, for she is very precious for us. She has the freedom to interact with our female folk, whom she has got used to. Inshallah [God willing], she will not be harmed and we are confident that our demand will be accepted by the concerned government,” Qari said.

“She is provided with the best available facilities including food, medical care,” he said, although he acknowledged he had not seen her himself.

“She seems to be very encouraged with the reports that Taliban will spare her life in exchange for ransom,” he said. link

Giesbrecht, a 52 year old freelance who also goes by the name of Khadija Abdul Qahaar, was freelancing for Al-Jazeera when she was abducted. A previous ransom demand of $150,000 was reported in January and she appeared in a video released by her captives in February.

Photo taken from CBC News.

In the four-minute-and-43-second video, Giesbrecht says she was kidnapped by the Taliban on her second trip to the region to meet a man with a rare coin collection whom she wished to interview.

"I have been in captivity now for almost three months," she said. "I wake up in the dark and I go to sleep in the dark. There is nothing but a wood furnace and not enough wood.

"I am not sure exactly my location. I am someplace in the Afghan border area. There are air raids … This is the war zone." link

A ransom deal was reported by the English language Pakistani News International in January, 2009, but there has been no word of any payment. The Toronto Star has more on the videotape and reaction from the Canadian Journalists Association.

Beverly Giesbrecht, a Canadian freelance journalist also know as Khadija Abdul Qahaar, was on a commission with Al-Jazeera when she was kidnapped on Tuesday. According to a report by AFP the 52 year old was seized at gunpoint in Bannu district of Pakistan which borders Afghanistan.

"The government of Canada is aware of the kidnapping of a Canadian citizen in Pakistan," said Lisa Monette, of Foreign Affairs. "Our Canadian officials are engaged with Pakistani authorities in seeking a safe and early release." link

You can see an interview with Giesbrecht from 2007 in the video above. UPDATE: It appears Giesbrecht was worried about abduction as recently as October 22 according to the CTVBC site,

On an Oct. 22 posting to her publication’s website, Jihad Unspun, Qahaar appealed to her contributors for money to help her secure a visa to exit Pakistan, citing kidnapping fears. "We have managed to get very good material out of the country to our production group but our physical safety is now paramount," Qahaar writes. "As a woman, I have already had a few close calls in the tribal areas as kidnappers." link

UPDATE: The News, a Pakistan newspaper, reports of some leads in the kidnap case,

The political administration of the Frontier Region (FR) Bannu on Friday claimed to have found some clues to the kidnappers of female Canadian journalist, who was kidnapped on Wednesday from Sra Darga area of Bannu.Some unidentified gunmen kidnapped female Canadian journalist Khadija Abdul Qahaar when she was on her way to Miramshah via Janikhel Wazir area. Sources said the political authorities of FR Bannu had found some clues to the kidnappers and were now negotiating with them to safely recover the kidnapped journalist. It is believed the kidnappers belong to Takhtikhel and Janikhel Wazir tribes and involved in criminal activities. The sources said she had reached Bannu Tuesday night about 12 am, stayed in a hotel and left for North Waziristan Agency in a taxi next day at 4 pm along with her translator, Salman, who is student of chartered accountancy in Peshawar, and her personal assistant, Zeuq Khan. link