Help Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan

Freelance journalists Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan remain hostages in Somalia almost one year since they were nabbed on the outskirts of Mogadishu in August, 2008. Despite reports of them both being in a very bad health and of Lindhout reportedly being pregnant, it appears the Australian and Canadian governments refuse to cough up the, by now, pretty pathetic ransom amount of $100,000.

Three days ago I posted a link to an online petition on the @frontlineblog twitter account to help put pressure on the two governments to do something. Now, I’m not the biggest believer in online petitions – in fact I’m a complete cynic – but with few other options left to pressure the authorities into paying – and it is only by paying that they will be released – it’s worth pushing the petition if it can reach its goal of 5,000 signatures.

Unfortunately, if the statistics above are anything to go by, plenty of people have clicked through to the petition link, yet few have bothered to sign it. Less than 50 additional signatures have been added since I posted the link, yet nearly 3,000 people clicked the link. This is a gentle nudge to sign. You just never know, 5,000+ signatures might just help.

UPDATE: Just to clarify, opinions about paying kidnappers in this case are my own, not those of the Frontline Club. Money, and little else, talks in Somalia… In my opinion.