Amanda Lindhout

Amanda Lindhout (born June 12, 1981) is a Canadian humanitarian, public speaker and journalist.

Lindhout was born in 1981 in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada.

After her parents separated, Lindhout lived in Sylvan Lake, Alberta.

She and her two brothers (Mark and Nathaniel) were raised by their mother, Lorinda, with Amanda spending much of her youth reading National Geographic Magazine.

Lindhout's father had chronic health problems, and depended on disability payments.

Her mother held a minimum-wage job.

Lindhout had early aspirations to become a model and did some brief modelling work.

She also considered enrolling in a beautician's school.

At the age of 24, Lindhout quit her job as a cocktail waitress to become a journalist.

She used her salary from the bar where she worked to finance reporting trips to various conflict zones around the world.

Lindhout began her new journalism career in Afghanistan, arriving in the capital Kabul in May 2007.

On August 23, 2008, she and members of her entourage were kidnapped by Islamist insurgents in southern Somalia.

She later moved on to an assignment in Baghdad, Iraq in January 2008, where she worked on a freelance basis for Iran's state television Press TV.

This led some Canadian reporters to criticize her, due to Press TV's reputation for producing state propaganda.

While in Iraq, reports indicated that Lindhout had been kidnapped in Sadr City.

She was said to have been released several hours later, after paying a ransom to her abductors.

However, Lindhout in her book denied having been kidnapped in Iraq.

She wrote that she was instead taken to the Sadr Party Headquarters and questioned about her political affiliations, and that she was able to call an Iraqi friend who ensured they were released within the hour.

At the time of Lindhout's abduction in Somalia, she was reportedly not affiliated with any news organization other than Alberta's Red Deer Advocate.

She wrote a column for the small daily.

Several media reports suggested that Lindhout was in Somalia on assignment for France 24.

However, Nathalie Lenfant, a spokesman for the organization, indicated that Lindhout had sent only a few reports to the news agency from Iraq.

Lenfant also stated that France 24 had declined two proposals by Lindhout to serve as a correspondent for the organization in Iraq and Somalia, respectively.

According to Lenfant, the news agency later decided to confirm that Lindhout was on a freelance assignment for it because France 24 representatives "thought it would be better if she could be seen to be part of the structure of a larger company".

On August 23, 2008, two days after having arrived in Mogadishu, Amanda Lindhout and Nigel Brennan, a 37-year-old freelance Australian photojournalist from Brisbane, were kidnapped along with their Somali translator, Abdifatah Mohammed Elmi, their driver, Mahad Isse, and a driver from the Shamo Hotel, Marwali.

They were on their way to conduct interviews at an internally displaced person (IDP) camp when they were stopped by gunmen.

The abductors were teenage insurgents from the Hizbul Islam fundamentalist group.

The two were kidnapped in lieu of two more experienced journalists (one of whom was National Geographic Magazine reporter Robert Draper), who had that morning beefed up their security before leaving to examine a refugee camp.

Because of this move, Lindhout and Brennan were kidnapped instead.

While in captivity, Lindhout was separated from Brennan and subsequently raped and tortured repeatedly.

On September 17, Al Jazeera featured footage of Lindhout and Brennan in captivity surrounded by gunmen.

On October 13, 2008, the kidnappers demanded a ransom of US$2.5 million by October 28.

She was released 15 months later on November 25, 2009, and has since embarked on a philanthropic career.

On February 23, 2009, the Canadian Association of Journalists urged Prime Minister Stephen Harper to help secure the release of Lindhout and Khadija Abdul Qahaar, a Canadian woman who was kidnapped in November.

Elmi and the two drivers were released on January 15, 2009.

The kidnappers later lowered the ransom demand to $1 million.

On June 10, 2009, CTV News received a phone call from a tearful Lindhout who seemed to be reading a statement: "My name is Amanda Lindhout and I am a Canadian citizen and I've been held hostage by gunmen in Somalia for nearly 10 months. I'm in a desperate situation. I'm being kept in a dark, windowless, room in chains without any clean drinking water and little or no food. I've been very sick for months without any medicine.... I love my country and want to live to see it again. Without food or medicine, I will die here."

On November 25, 2009, after 460 days as a hostage, Lindhout and Brennan were released following a ransom payment made by their families through a private firm that specializes in kidnappings and ransom payments.

In 2013, she released the book, A House in the Sky: A Memoir, in which she recounts her early life, travels as a young adult, and hostage experience.

In 2014, the book was optioned to become a major motion picture by Megan Ellison, with Rooney Mara playing the role of Lindhout.