The threat was contained in a new video posted on the internet, but the captors did not specify who among Robert Hall, a Canadian citizen, and Kjartan Sekkingstad, a Norwegian, would be beheaded.
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“I appeal to my government and the Philippine government, as I have appealed before, for help”, says Hall in a new video released on May 13 and posted on SITE, a USA research group that tracks jihadist sites.
In the video captioned by the SITE Intelligence Group, Hall and Sekkingstad said Abu Sayyaf has threatened to kill one of them if a ransom payment of $12.8 million is not received by June 13. Ridsdel was beheaded by Abu Sayyaf militants in April.
Trudeau declined to comment on whether or not the Canadian government has tried to talk with or negotiate with the terror group.
In one month a Western hostage will be killed by an extremist Islamic group in the Philippines unless a hefty ransom is paid – a horrific ultimatum that is testing the mettle of the leaders of three countries who have already seen the group murder another hostage.
Hall, his Filipino girlfriend Maritess Flor, Ridsdel and Sekkingstad were snatched last September at a marina near the city of Davao, before being spirited by boat 500 kilometres away to Jolo island. “I appeal to my government and the Philippine government, as I have appealed before, for help”.
Abu Sayyaf was not party to the peace agreement, and Duterte has called for the group to lay down its arms. “We are determined to slaughter all the captives if you do not met our demands”, a poor Arabic speaking man said while reading scripts from his smartphone.
“He wants the Abu Sayyaf problem eliminated before the end of his term”, Visaya said in a phone interview with InterAksyon.com on Monday. The whole group is believed to be comprised of a few hundred members.
Since then, militants belonging to the group have released 14 Indonesian sailors captured in two separate hijackings off the south Philippines.
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“We have not stopped, there is no letup in ongoing operations and will not cease on doing this until we are able to make these personalities or these bandits and criminals accountable for their actions”, the state-run Philippines News Agency quoted him saying.
