A Deal with the Devil: The price of paying ransom
By Lynne Bell
As I write this, two horrific videos have surfaced after the murder of Canadian citizen John Ridsdel in the Philippines.
I haven't watched them-and I won't-but according to transcripts released by a Norwegian group that monitors jihadist activity, the first video contains footage of the innocent hostage's barbaric murder and states: “John Ridsdel was beheaded on 4/25, due to non-compliance of Canadian Gov.”
The second video reportedly contains footage of Ridsdel's three fellow hostages-Canadian Robert Hall, Filipina Marites Flor and Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad. Each of them-surrounded by armed, masked men-address the camera.
Hall states “To the Canadian government, I'm told to tell you to meet the demand. I don't know what you're doing, but you're not doing anything for us. John has been sacrificed, his family has been decimated, and I'm not sure why or what you've been waiting for.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wholeheartedly condemned those who murdered Ridsdel but maintained that Canada simply will not pay ransom to kidnappers and will not be held hostage by the criminal likes of Abu Sayyaf, the Philippine terrorist group who murdered Ridsdel, an innocent Canadian citizen.
One of the reasons for Canada's longstanding policy regarding the refusal to pay ransom payments is that doing so would endanger all Canadians who travel abroad. Italy and France are two countries who have reportedly paid millions in ransom payments to captors of their citizens. As a result, not only are the Italians and French seen as especially desirable targets by terrorists, but the cash these criminals receive aids their cause greatly-creating exactly the opposite effect of what most civilized countries hope to achieve.
But of course, real life is more complicated. As I sit here in my office, none of my loved ones are in such an unspeakably awful situation, and most of us would move heaven and earth-governments be damned-to save any member of our families or any of our friends from a fate like John Risdsel's.
Alberta's Amanda Lindhout and her mother Lorinda Stewart know how hellish kidnapping is-both from the side of the captive and from the side of the hostage's frantic loved ones back home.
Lindhout was kidnapped in Somalia in August 2008 and was held for 15 months by a group of Somali men, where she endured torture and the fear of an agonizing death for nearly every day of her captivity.
She was finally freed when her family pulled together a ransom and she was released-without the official assistance of the Canadian government.
Perhaps surprisingly, both Lindhout and her mother stand behind this country's policy of refusing to pay to kidnappers for the release of their hostages.
Lindhout recently told CBC News: “It's so complicated, and people come to me expecting in a way that I would have a really clear answer about that,” she said. “The answer is probably not what most people expect, given what I've been through, but I understand Trudeau's position. I actually understand and agree with how a policy like that serves to protect Canadians who are out travelling around the world.”
At one point during Lindhout's captivity, her mother endured the nightmare of a phone call from her hysterical daughter after she had been bound and gagged, tortured and assaulted for three consecutive days. Lindhout's kidnappers told her she would be tortured every day until they received payment-and this was the telephone message they had their sobbing victim relay to her mother who was thousands of miles away in Canada.
Stewart says she agrees with Canada's policy of non-payment of ransoms, but adds that she would change the law, so that families trying to gain their loved one's freedom under such difficult circumstances would be able to do so without facing government roadblocks-or even criminal charges- in Canada.
After “selling everything” and paying what was rumoured to be $500,000 to gain her daughter's freedom, Stewart told CBC News: “I'm really hesitant to say that I lost everything because I feel like I gained everything when Amanda came home.”
I suspect we all would feel the same way-but if the Canadian government officially adopts the policy of making ransom payments for the release of its innocent citizens held captive by terror groups, it almost normalizes and legitimizes these crimes.
And that really would be like making a deal with the devil.
What if…
By Kelly Running
“We don’t negotiate with terrorists.” It’s a saying you hear, whether in reality or on the silver screen, but is it a quote to live by or is it one a country should ignore?
Recently in the news a Philippine militant group murdered a Canadian hostage. In a video released before his death, the Canadian hostage pleaded with the Government of Canada to meet the demands of the militant group holding him.
After refusing to pay, however, a second video was released which apparently shows the beheading of the Canadian hostage.
His family now mourns his death and there is talk that the Canadian Government could have stopped it had the country simply paid. According to a National Post article, however, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has vowed that Canada will never pay ransom when faced with the decision.
Britain and the United States both state that they too will never pay ransom for its citizens. There are countries out there that will pay: France denies that they paid a ransom but four journalists were released in Syria in 2014 after demands were made. Spain reportedly paid for the release of 36 crewman from a Spanish trawler to Somali pirates. Austria, Switzerland, Qatar, Oman, and Israel have also reportedly given in to ransom demands.
In such a difficult situation, what is the right decision?
I’m not sure if there actually is one. On one hand the countries that refuse to negotiate with terrorists, their citizens are left in the hands of their captors to potentially meet their end. On the other hand, countries that pay ransom are taking a risk, what if the terrorists don’t follow through on the deal, however, they are more likely to bring home a citizen alive.
Yet, if a country negotiates a ransom they are willing to pay, does that put those citizens at more of a risk than citizens from other countries. If places like Canada, the United States, and Britain refuse to pay a ransom are those citizens less likely to be taken than people from countries that do negotiate and pay?
It’s one of those Catch-22 situations where you are darned if you do and darned if you don’t. There is no right answer and no wrong answer when we’re looking at what if’s. You can look back on anything in the world, in your life and question, what if this was done or what if that was done? There’s no guarantee for you to know the outcome if those different choices had been made.
What if Hitler had been accepted into art school? Would the world be vastly different than what it is today?
The point is we can’t know for certain what would or wouldn’t happen in the world, so our government must make policies that it thinks will best protect its citizens. This idea of refusing to negotiate a ransom isn’t intrinsic to the current liberal government either, I don’t want people to go off blaming Trudeau like they do for everything else. If you want to blame people, blame those who voted for him, because he’s there representing the majority.
Whether negotiations take place or not, it is the choice of the government and their efforts in ensuring Canadian citizens are safe.
