Philippines seek to avenge hostage beheading

The Philippine government has vowed revenge against the Abu Sayyaf Group today after the head of hostage Gabriel Canizares was found in a bag on the island of Jolo. Militants had abducted the teacher three weeks ago and demanded a ransom for his return, which his family and authorities refused to pay. A spokesperson for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said the government would take tough action against the rebels: “We shall make them pay for the enormity of this savagery.”

Chechen rights defender abducted

Representatives from the human rights group Memorial claim that Arbi Khachukayev, the head of a rights organization called Law, has been abducted in Moscow and renditioned to the Chechen capital. Khachukayev has been an outspoken critic of Chehcn President Ramzan Kadyrov, and it is believed that gunmen loyal to Kadyrov are responsible for his kidnapping. While Khachukayev has been permitted to phone his relatives, it is unclear where he is being held. This case is the latest in a strong of abductions where Kadyrov has allegedly had some involvement; rights defenders still accuse the Chechen President of direct responsibility for the kidnapping and murder of Natalia Estemirova this past July.

Iran hostage anniversary looms

Tomorrow marks the 30 year anniversary of an event that would change the shape of Middle East foreign policy – and the American approach to the region – that resonates today. On 4 November 1979, a group of students seized the American Embassy in Tehran, taking hostage more than 50 diplomatic staff. The gesture – organised initially to last for a few days – ended up lasting 444, until Ronald Reagan’s inauguration in January 1981.

This week, several ex-hostages are recalling that fateful day. Some claim the events were an inevitable consequence of U.S. foreign policy in Iran. Others express anger at the game they feel the government of Iran is still playing with the world.

Interestingly, some of the former hostage takers – once held up as national heroes – are imprisoned by the regime they helped to usher in, notes the New York Times today, thus proving that not everyone got the revolution they were fighting for.

Drama on the high seas

A British couple invested their life savings into a yacht with which they could sail to exotic locales, only to end up in the hands of Somali pirates. Last week, searchers found the empty vessel belonging to Paul and Rachel Chandler with no sign of the couple aboard, but soon received a message from their captors demanding a $7 million ransom. Now, however, the pirates seem to be rethinking their demands, especially after much outcry that the couple was not as rich as it may have appeared. Word from the hostage-takers is that they have moved the Chandlers onto land, and now seek the release of other comrades jailed for piracy in exchange for the pair. The British government has sworn off the payment of ransoms as concessions to hostage-takers.

Kidnapped Colombians found dead

They were hometown football players from Colombia who played under the team name of Los Maniceros – the Peanut Men. Twelve men were kidnapped roughly two weeks ago as they played the beautiful game, and over the weekend ten of their bodies were found across the border in Venezuela, bullets the likely cause of death. The culprit in this grotesque crime is said to be the ELN, a long-time Colombian guerrilla group with a history of kidnapping and brutality, as evidenced in the video below. Fundación País Libre estimates that the ELN was responsible for killing more than 150 hostages between 2000 and 2007.

President Uribe spoke out against the crime, saying it shows that terrorism has no respect for borders.

Some end of the week news tidbits

• Muscovites yesterday marked the seventh anniversary of the day that Russian security forces stormed a theatre where Chechen militants were holding hundreds hostage, killing more than 100 in the ensuing gas attack. Victims’ rights groups believe there will never be clear answers behind the fatal decision-making that day.

• Ever wonder how the International Committee of the Red Cross gets messages to hostages from their loved ones? Brian Palmer explains how in this article of Slate magazine.

• Filipino authorities are offering to pay for information regarding the whereabouts of abducted Irish priest Michael Sinnott. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front has been linked to the kidnapping of the elderly man, seized from a mission garden almost two weeks ago.

Darfur hostages return home

Mock executions, unsanitary water and a climate of fear – these were the conditions that Sharon Commins and Hilda Kawuki faced as hostages in Darfur for over three months. The aid workers were released early Sunday morning and flown to Khartoum, then onto their homelands of Ireland and Uganda. The women slept in the open air in the mountainous area where they were held, and kept each other’s spirits up when the circumstances became depressing.

Held by the Taliban

New York Times reporter David Rohde, held hostage by the Taliban in southern Afghanistan for seven months, tells the story of his captivity in a series of articles for his paper this week. Rohde’s predicament generated much discussion from the field of journalism following a black-out on reporting his situation to the media whilst he was captured.

Herbin Hoyos flees Colombia

I’ve written previously in this blog about the excellent work of journalist Herbin Hoyos, founder of Las Voces del Secuestro. Now it seems death threats in his home country have forced Hoyos to leave Colombia for Europe. Hoyos escaped a failed assassination attempt by FARC militants and flew to Spain on Monday. He vows to continue broadcasting his show, which provides voices of hope to those in captivity. Hoyos also is participating in a motorcycle caravan from Madrid to Rome in early November, along with hundreds of other Colombians – including ex-hostages – to draw attention to the plight of persons still captured.

Irish priest kidnapped in Mindanao

An elderly Irish priest was the latest abductee to be taken by armed militants in the southern Philippines. Father Michael Sinnott, who had worked in the area for decades, was seized by gunmen in the garden of the convent where he did mission work, and later shuttled away by speedboat. It is unclear which armed group took him, though suspicions point to the Abu Sayyaf Group. A fellow priest stated that the kidnappers have not made contact regarding their demands.