Possible death

UK officials have told the families of three men held in Iraq that they fear the worst regarding their fate, as press reports indicate two more hostages may have been killed. Previously, the bodies of two hostages – Jason Creswell and Jason Swindlehurst – who were among the five captured in 2007 were recovered last month. The families of the remaining men are pleading with the kidnappers send them home.

Pakistani MP held as kidnap suspect

A former member of the Pakistani parliament has been charged with the beheading of Polish hostage Piotr Stanczak earlier this year. Shah Abdul Aziz is known for having ties with the Taliban and right wing Islamic militants. Aziz was presented before an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi over the weekend. Three more men suspected of links to taking Stanczak hostage were also being held, and police report that they are also trying to track a suspected kidnap gang of 8-10 others.

Años en silencio

Oscar Tulio Lizcano, a former FARC hostage who spent eight years in captivity, has released his memoir in Colombia this week, entitled Years in Silence. Lizcano launched the book in a press conference attended by President Álvaro Uribe, where he claimed that his book “revealed shocking testimonies of love, betrayal and death”.

Also in attendance at the launch in Bogotá was the former FARC rebel who helped bring Lizcano to freedom, showing off a new face. Wilson Bueno or Isaza, as he is also known, underwent facial reconstruction surgery after being shot in the eye and is now residing in France.

News from three continents

• Amid the good news that militants in the Niger Delta have released six hostage crew members from the oil tanker Sichem Peace, Reuters tells us this week that kidnappings in Nigeria have soared this year, with over 500 so far, a 70% increase over the previous year. What once was a crime limited to the oil industry now includes the taking of children and religious leaders.

• The Venezuelan state of Barinas, home to Hugo Chavez’s family, has witnessed an unprecedented surge of abductions lately, with a whopping 66 of the known 454 kidnappings to occur across the country this year. That represents a figure of 7.2 hostages per every 100,000 inhabitants, though experts say the figure could be much higher as many kidnappings go unreported.

• Political kidnappings have reached “epidemic” levels in Chechnya this year, with 74 documented in the tiny republic in the first six months. And a week after human rights campaigner Natalia Estemirova became one of the latest victims, a key human rights group (Memorial) monitoring such abuses has suspended its Grozny operations due to ongoing threats:

“I’m scared I won’t be able to go home”

This weekend, Taliban militants who kidnapped an American soldier released a 28-minute video of their hostage, in which Private Bowe Bergdahl sends loving greetings to his family and expresses his fears he won’t see them again. Bergdahl, an Idaho native, was seized in late June during intense fighting in eastern Afghanistan. A terrorism analyst has said that the video – showing the young man dressed in clean garments with plenty to eat – sends a hopeful message that his captors are treating Bergdahl well and will not harm him. The military has denounced the video as Taliban propaganda in violation of international law.

Sharia trial for hostages

Kidnappers of two French men abducted earlier this week in Somalia are stating they intend to try the pair according to Islamic Sharia law. Their crime? Spying and conspiracy against Islam. The two, both security advisers who’d arrived in Mogadishu only nine days prior to their kidnapping, are now being held by Al-Shabab insurgents, an extremist group with ties to Al Qaeda. The transitional government in Somalia has called for the unconditional release of the men.

Another anti-kidnapping campaigner killed

As if the news from Mexico wasn’t bad enough, on Wednesday the body of human rights activist Natalia Estemirova was found in Ingushetia with bullet wounds to the head and chest. Estemirova had spent the last decade researching and reporting on kidnapping, torture, killings and other rights abuses occurring in Chechnya. Witnesses claim that she yelled out that she was being kidnapped when men seized her from her home in Grozny the morning of her murder. Her killing comes at a time when Russia is trying to pretend that all is well in the North Caucasus despite reports to the contrary by human rights monitoring groups. Across the world governments, rights organisations and ordinary citizens have condemned the brutal slaying, saying it is just a tragic reminder of how a climate of impunity pervades the Russian Federation and those who speak out against it pay with their lives.

Dos secuestros en México

The violence of Mexican drug cartels dominates the headlines these days, after the bodies of 12 federal officers were found following tortured and murdered in Michoacan State on Monday. But as kidnappings and murders persist, the question marks remain around the fate of Felix Batista, the anti-kidnapping expert kidnapped late last year. Despite having nary a clue about his abductors or whereabouts, the Mexican authorities have not declared Batista dead yet. The results of DNA tests on the remains of bodies found in Arteaga – which may include those of Batista’s – are slated to be released early next week.

Earlier this month, another anti-kidnapping activist was tortured and murdered along with his brother-in-law. Benjamin Le Baron was an American who had been vocal against Mexican crime in Chihuahua after the abduction of his younger brother. Authorities say he was seized from his home by men in Mexican military uniforms and his body found some 50km away.

Mid-month updates

• The first female to be taken hostage by Somali pirates was seized aboard a Turkish ship. The 24-year-old Aysun Akbay was a 4th officer, and allegedly on her first voyage abroad, when her ship the Horizon 1 was captured last week en route to Jordan.
• Two French security advisers are the latest kidnap victims in Somalia, after being taken by gunmen from their hotel. The two entered the country registered as journalists but in actuality had been training Somali forces.
• Werner Greiner, a Swiss national abducted in Niger six months ago, was freed over the weekend and has returned home. The Malian president, where Greiner was taken by his Al Qaeda kidnappers, has denied paying a ransom for his release.

Vagni freed

Eugenio Vagni, the last of three Red Cross aid workers to be held hostage in the southern Philippines since January, has been freed following mediation by local politicians. Vagni was taken to a military base and later flown to Manila; his current state of health is said to be weak. Authorities claim neither they nor the Italian government paid the Abu Sayyaf Group a ransom, but there was an agreement to release two relatives of an Abu Sayyaf leader in exchange for his freedom. Red Cross officials thanked local authorities who worked tirelessly to secure the release of Vagni and earlier, his fellow hostages Mary Jean Lacaba and Andreas Notter.