The friend of a Canadian journalist held captive in Pakistan says he is worried the woman's health is deteriorating and she may die before parties negotiating her release reach a deal.
Beverly Giesbrecht, 53, of Vancouver was on a freelance assignment for the Al Jazeera network when she disappeared Nov. 11, 2008 while travelling in Pakistan near the Afghan border.
A video of Giesbrecht surfaced on the Internet earlier this month in which she said her captors would "probably" kill her by the end of this month if their demands were not met.
Glen Cooper, a long-time friend, says Giesbrecht, who adopted the name Khadija Abdul Qahaar when she converted to Islam in 2002, is in very poor health and "may expire even before the negotiations are finished."
The specific ransom demands have never been made public. But a media report in January said the captors demanded the equivalent of about $150,000 and the release of some prisoners jailed in Afghanistan.
A Globe and Mail report on Tuesday says a ransom offered by the Pakistani government for her release has been rejected by the kidnappers as "too little to be considered."
The Canadian government has said in the past that it was pursuing all appropriate channels to secure her release but would say little more out of fear of jeopardizing her safety.
Giesbrecht is one of three Canadian journalists kidnapped in the past year. Freelance journalist Amanda Lindhout has been held captive in Somalia for almost seven months, and a CBC journalist was released after being held for 28 days in Afghanistan.
