John Ridsdel was a Canadian businessman from Calgary, Alberta who was kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf Muslim militants in the Philippines on September 21, 2015 and beheaded by the group on 25 April 2016. He was 68.
Ridsdel's family originated from Britain. His mother was a Scottish-born nurse and his father a London-based physician. After moving to Durban, South Africa, and Saskatchewan, Canada, the Ridsdel family returned to Britain for a while, before again settling in Canada, first in Vancouver and finally in Calgary.
Ridsdel graduated with a bachelor's degree in political sciencefrom the University of Toronto and a master's degree in political sociology from the London School of Economics.
He initially worked as a producer and reporter at CBC Calgary and at the Calgary Herald, before he joined Petro-Canada in Alberta, a company he represented in Pakistan, Myanmar and Algeria.
At the time of the kidnapping, he was working for the mining company TVI Resource Development Philippines Inc., a subsidiary of Canada's TVI Pacific, where he was also a consultant.
He was kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf Muslim militants in the Philippines on September 21, 2015 in a raid by Abu Sayyaf militants on Holiday Ocean View Samal Resort, on Samal Island, southern Philippines.
After the gunmen disarmed the resort's security guards, they abducted four individuals from the resort, the Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall, the Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad, the resort's marina manager and a Filipino woman, Teresita Flor.
The kidnappers later issued demands for a hefty ransom to be paid for the release of the kidnapped victims, reportedly 300 million pesos (around $6.5 million) for each of the three foreigners seized. As the deadline lapsed on 25 April 2016, they went on to behead Ridsdel. The fate of the other three is not known.
