Death By Islamist Ideology

"What can I say? We wee all sad. But we didn't have time to mourn him, because we were so busy surviving ... We were told right away, 'You're next!'."               "They had guards watching us all the time, keeping us awake on purpose, just to break us down physically and mentally."                                                              "The weaker we become, the more they laugh. They think it's funny like hell."  "John [Ridsdel] and me ... we became like soulmates. We were thinking about -- planning is not the right word -- maybe dreaming, what we were going to do when we got out of there."                                                                                            Kjartan Sekkingstad, Norwegian, permanent resident of Canada

"His [Abu Sayyaf terror suspect Anduljihad Susukan] giving himself up to Mr. Misuari [Muslim rebel leader Nur Misuari] is not the surrender contemplated under the law and does not make him immune from arrest."                                    Maj.Gen.Edgard Arevalo Philippine military commander

Abduljihad Susukan, linked to the beheadings of hostages including two Canadians in the Philippines, surrendered on Friday, officials say. (Davos City Police)

Like the Islamic State's propensity to publicize the atrocities they committed on their victims by video taping sophisticated theatricals of horror leading up to the beheading of the 'infidels' they captured, the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group, aligned with ISIL in the Philippines took the same apparent pleasure in terrorizing, tormenting and ultimately beheading those they took prisoner for ransom. In September of 2015, two Canadians along with a Norwegian with Canadian connections and a Filipino woman were abducted from a marina operated by the Norwegian in Davao.

Canadians Robert Hall, centre, and John Ridsdel, right, were taken hostage by Filipino militants in 2015. (Site Intelligence)

The terror group demanded a hefty ransom for the lives of John Ridsdel of Calgary along with fellow Canadian Robert Hall. It wasn't the first time Canadians were captured as they went about their business. There was a precedent to the Philippines' event, when Robert Fowler, a Canadian diplomat on assignment with the United Nations and his colleague Louis Guay were captured by al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in 2008, held hostage in the Sahara Desert for 130 days. On their release, facilitated by the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Mr. Fowler stated: "I owe a debt to Mr. Harper ..."

He also made a statement regarding the Liberal Party of Canada in March of 2010: "I believe the Liberal party has, to a significant extent, lost its way, at least in policy terms, and of course I mean, in particular, my area of foreign policy terms, and is in danger of losing its soul...To this observer, it seems that Liberals today don't stand for much in the way of principles...I have the impression that they will endorse anything and everything which might return them to power and nothing which won't, whatever the merits of either. It's all about getting to power, and it shows...I believe Liberals seem prepared to embrace an infinite array of special interests in order to shill for votes rather than forging a broad-based principled alliance founded in deep Liberal traditions, one with a distinct social contract and an independent  Canadian character, which would protect, project and defend core Liberal values at home and abroad..."

This was before the Liberals were returned to power in 2015, but it was a statement recognizing the Liberal hunger for power, determined to reassert their entitled place in Canada as the perpetual governing party. Robert Hall, 66 and John Ridsdel, 68, were out of luck when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took Stephen Harper's place. For he announced that Canada would not sully itself by negotiating with terrorists, paying ransom to release two Canadians. That 2010 statement was prescient; five years later, the government of Canada stood firm on 'principles' and left two Canadians to die horribly.

Spavor, Kovrig, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Manuel Balce REUTERS

In 2020 there is another episode with another two Canadians, this time abducted by the Chinese Communist Party, charged with a nebulous, evidence-lacking crime of 'espionage' against China: one, business man, Michael Spavor, the other a diplomat-on-leave, Michael Kovrig, both left to fend for themselves, trapped by circumstances whereby the CFO of Chinese technology giant Huawei being held in British Columbia on an extradition warrant issued by the United States has made them vulnerable to Chinese-style prisoner-chess. And there they languish, imprisoned, since December 2018, awaiting rescue from their nightmare, while the Liberal government continues to play footsie with Beijing.

The three men, Ridsdel, Hall and Sekkingstad, along with Hall's companion Marites Flor were abducted in Septmeber 2014 from the Davao Holiday Oceanview Marina on Samal Island. Ridsdell was executed in April, and Robert Hall was beheaded in June, but before that happened the terrorists teased him, telling him he was heading back to Canada. Then they placed handcuffs on him, allowed him to hug Flor, and led him to the place where the decapitation took place.

Susukan had been involved in a conflict with another Islamist group where he sustained a wound, losing an arm. He surrendered to the rebel leader Nur Misuari of the Moro National Liberation Front which signed a tentative peace agreement with the government back in the mid-1990s. Misuari then flew to Davao with Susukan where he was handed over to the government of President Rodrigo Duterte to face justice for the murder of the two Canadian men and stand trial in kidnappings and executions on the island of Borneo.

Another Abu Sayyaf terrorist implicated in the murder of Robert Hall and John Ridsdel has yet to be brought to justice. As another Abu Sayyaf commander involved in the deaths of the two Canadians, Moammar Askai had died in a battle on the island of Bohoi, killed by Philippines troops. Eventually after the two Canadians were executed Flor was given her freedom in June of 2015. A few months later, Kjartan Sekkingstad was also released; Norway had secured his freedom.

Philippine police escort funeral parlour employees carrying the body of one of two suspected Abu Sayyaf militants killed by authorities during a failed kidnapping in Bohol, central Philippines, May 2017. AP