Guilty verdict reached in Lindhout kidnapping

Ali Omar Ader has been found guilty in the kidnapping of Amanda Lindhout in Somalia.

The verdict was handed down in a packed courtroom Wednesday by Ontario Superior Court Justice Robert Smith, who presided over Ader’s 10-day trial.

In his reasons for the decision, Smith said Ader, a 40-year-old Somalian national, was a “willing participant” in the hostage-taking of Lindhout, who was working as a freelance journalist when

seized near Mogadishu nine years ago.

Smith found much of Ader’s testimony was unbelievable and did not support his claim that he was forced into serving as a negotiator and translator on behalf of a gang who threatened to harm him and his family.

Ader betrayed little emotion after the verdict was announced.

Prosecutor Croft Michaelson said the outcome “sends a message that if you take a Canadian citizen hostage in another country, you’re not

safe.”

“If the law enforcement here can find you and do an investigation, we’re going to pursue that.”

Lindhout, raised in Red Deer, and photographer Nigel Brennan of Australia were snatched by armed men in August 2008 while pursuing a story, the beginning of 15 months in captivity. They were released upon payment of a ransom.

But the saga then entered a new phase: a complex, multiyear police investigation involving a scheme to elicit a confession from Ader, the man suspected of making ransomdemand calls.

Ader, who speaks some English, developed a business relationship through phone calls and emails with a man who promised to help publish his book about Somalia.

They met face-to-face in 2013 on the island of Mauritius, where the business agent — actually an undercover Mountie — says Ader freely spoke of helping the hostage-takers in return for US$10,000 in ransom money.