Somali kidnappers holding an Alberta journalist hostage have reportedly lowered the ransom demanded to free her and an Australian photojournalist.
When Sylvan Lake journalist Amanda Lindhout was captured at gunpoint in Somalia last August, her captors asked for $2.5 million for her safe return.
A Somali press freedom agency said Friday that the ransom has been dropped dramatically, to $100,000.
A Somali tribal chief liaising in negotiations said those holding Lindhout, 27, and photojournalist Nigel Brennan, 35, hostage were asking for millions in September.
It is not known if the threat to kill Lindhout after the 15-day deadline was carried out. The date came and went with no further communication from captors.
A Somali journalist captured along with Lindhout and Brennan, Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi, was released on Jan. 15.
Elmi claims he was separated from the pair two days after they were captured.
Lindhout’s parents, John and Lorinda, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
