VANCOUVER — The longtime friend of a Canadian journalist who was kidnapped in Pakistan nearly a year ago says he's received calls from her captors demanding money and he fears she will die before any settlement is reached.

Beverley Giesbrecht, who converted to Islam and adopted the name Khadija Abdul Qahaar after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, was on a freelance assignment for Al Jazeera in the Bannu district of northwest Pakistan last November when she, her translator and guide were taken at gunpoint.

Glen Cooper, whose friendship with Giesbrecht spans more than two decades, said he spoke to her by telephone two months ago.

"I indicated to her that her friends in Vancouver have not forgotten her and we're all waiting for her to return and that our thoughts are always with her," Cooper told The Canadian Press, revealing the contact for the first time.

"She said that I wouldn't recognize her if I saw her again because she's really suffered a lot with this captivity because she's not getting her medicine, she's not getting decent food, and the conditions there are deplorable."

A videotaped recording of Giesbrecht, 56, released by her captors in February showed a visibly nervous woman who was flanked on either side by masked gunmen armed with assault rifles.

A second video surfaced in March in which Giesbrecht had a dagger mounted behind her and said, "We have a very short time now, I'm going to be killed, as you can see."

Cooper said he's had several conversations with the kidnappers, though the number of direct calls has slowed in recent months.

"I did speak to her in the summer so I knew she was alive then," Cooper said. "I have not heard from her since and I don't know what her status is."

Cooper has been reluctant to speak out on Giesbrecht's abduction in the past while officials worked to secure her release. But as the one-year anniversary of the kidnapping approaches, he said government officials aren't telling him anything and he's worried his close friend won't last much longer.

"I have her phone number," he said, speaking of Giesbrecht and her captors.

"I could just phone her but I don't because that gets in the way of what other people are doing."

In the weeks following Giesbrecht's abduction, Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Lisa Monette issued a statement saying, "Canadian officials continue to engage with Pakistani authorities in seeking her safe and early release."

This week, when asked to update the situation, Monette issued a near-identical statement, saying, "Canadian officials are engaged with Pakistani authorities in seeking her safe release."

Monette declined further comment.

"I'm sure that you can appreciate that we will not comment or release any information which may compromise our efforts or jeopardize the safety of a Canadian citizen," she said.

John Weston, a Conservative MP for the West Vancouver riding that Giesbrecht used to call home, confirmed he's familiar with the case but declined to provide further details.

"I look forward to a day when I can discuss with you more openly what hopefully will have been a successful release of Ms. Giesbrecht," he said.

"This is a peculiar case where we're relying on the local government (in Pakistan) to assist in the release of Ms. Giesbrecht."

A spokeswoman for the High Commission for Pakistan in Ottawa also declined comment on the case.

Cooper remains confident Giesbrecht has not simply been forgotten by government officials, but believes those closest to her are being left in the dark.

A report earlier this year said her captors wanted the equivalent of about $150,000 and the release of some prisoners jailed in Afghanistan.

Cooper said he's aware of some of the demands but didn't want to disclose those terms.

"The numbers that I've heard later on in this incident were not particularly shocking so I'm not sure that money is the issue anymore," he said.

Giesbrecht was the publisher of Jihad Unspun, a website critical of the U.S.-led war on terror. In a note on the website, she wrote she launched the publication "to give voice to the other side of (the) war on 'terrorism."'

Giesbrecht said in another post that she is "not a 'terrorist,' a fanatic or mentally off-balance" but is instead "a level-headed, capable woman, a humanitarian and a contributing member of society."

She left Vancouver for London on April 7, 2008. She went on to Lahore, Pakistan, on Aug. 4, 2008.

Days before she was abducted, Giesbrecht appealed to her readers to donate money so she could leave the increasingly dangerous country.

"As a woman, I have already had a few close calls in the tribal areas as kidnappers and thieves are running loose," she wrote.

The News International, an English language Pakistani newspaper, reported that Giesbrecht's translator, Salman Khan, was released in July. Her guide had been released some time earlier.

"I want to make an earnest appeal to the human rights bodies, government functionaries and other quarters concerned to do something for (Giesbrecht) or else she will die in captivity," Khan said in the report.

Cooper shares that concern.

"She's not a healthy person," he said, adding Giesbrecht has contracted jaundice.

"I'm surprised she's lasted this long."

Giesbrecht is not alone in her ordeal. It was a year in August since Canadian journalist Amanda Lindhout was kidnapped in Somalia.