CANADIAN PM JUSTIN Trudeau has slammed the killing of a Canadian hostage who was being held in the Philipines.
John Ridsdel had been held in the country since 21 September last year when he was taken captive along with three others and held by Abu Sayyaf militants.
In a statement yesterday Canadian PM Trudeau said: “I am outraged by the news that a Canadian citizen, John Ridsdel… has been killed at the hands of his captors”.
Canada condemns without reservation the brutality of the hostage-takers, and this unnecessary death. This was an act of cold-blooded murder and responsibility rests squarely with the terrorist group who took him hostage.
The death reportedly happened after a ransom deadline for his release passed. The Canadian government has a policy against paying them, a government official told Canadian news outlet the Globe and Mail.
He was being held at Jolo Island, a province in the southwest of the country where Abu Sayyaf militants have a foothold.
The Islamist militants are still holding Ridsdel’s fellow Canadian Robert Hall, Filipino Marites Flor and norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad.
According to Dick Gordon, the chairman of the Red Cross in the Philippines, a severed head of a man who appeared to be a foreigner was thrown from a motorcycle in a brown bag at around 7.30pm local time yesterday evening in from of the Jolo municipal building.
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