Extremist group ISIS says two hostages in its captivity, a Chinese and a Norwegian, are “for sale” now that the governments of their respective countries have failed to secure their release.
The two hostages have been identified as 50 year-old Fan Jinghui and 48 year-old Ole Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad. It is not clear when the two were captured. The two men are seen in photos wearing yellow jumpsuits with photographs of them taken at various angles.
Fan is described as being a “freelance consultant” and lists Beijing, China as his place of birth.
The notice offers the two hostages “for sale” to any interested party because, according to the poster, they were both “abandoned” by the Norwegian and Chinese government “which did not do its utmost to purchase (their) freedom.”
Chillingly, the notice ends with, “Note: This is a limited time offer.”
So far there hasn’t been an official response from the Chinese government. The People’s Daily reported the story, but did not confirm Fan’s nationality.
Meanwhile, the ISIS hostage situation drew a strong response from Erna Solberg, the Prime Minister of Norway. Solberg confirmed that a Norwegian national is being held hostage by ISIS, but would not confirm it is Grimsgaard-Ofstad.
Prime Minister Solberg also had tough words for ISIS:
We can not and we will not be pressured. We will not pay ransom. ISIS brutality knows no limits and has driven thousands of people from their home. ISIS must be stopped and Norway will continue the work against this organisation.
Chinese media has commented before on the issue of hostage taking by ISIS when two Japanese nationals were ransomed and ultimately executed at the beginning of this year by the extremist group.
The Global Times reasoned that there must have been a precise reason why Japanese hostages were targeted by ISIS because “East Asian countries are not supposed to be key targets of the atrocious IS.”
Specifically, the Global Times said the Japanese and US governments are to blame for the killings, saying: “The killing of the Japanese hostage is more or less the price that Japan has paid for its support to Washington.” As well, GT predicted the tragedy will be exploited for political gain, saying, “The death of the hostage also offers a new excuse for Abe to lift the ban on collective self-defense.”
In other developments, Chinese tourist Hong Xudong was freed by Pakistani security forces and intelligence agencies at the end of August after being held hostage by the Taliban for over a year.