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Wednesday, September 10, 2003
Blast suspect Yunos recants guilty plea
MANILA -- An alleged bomb expert linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terror group withdrew on Tuesday his guilty plea to a spate of deadly Manila bombings in December 2000.
Saifullah Mukhlis Yunos, in a motion filed in court by his lawyer, said he "did not mean to admit the accusation against him, much less to enter a plea of guilty" in July when he was arraigned for the attacks that killed 22 people.
Yunos did not "fully comprehend" the charges read out to him because he only spoke a local Muslim dialect or Arabic and was forced to plead guilty under duress, his lawyer Fidel Macauyag charged.
He claimed that Yunos was beaten in detention and forced to sign a written confession in which he had claimed that he was a member of a terrorist unit operated by the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) that planned the bombing with the JI.Yunos had earlier told police that the attacks were planned with the help of al-Qaeda-linked JI operative Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi, who escaped in July from a police jail days before he was to be indicted for the December 2000 bombings.
Al-Ghozi had separately admitted his role in the attacks, and had acknowledged knowing Yunos when both of them were presented to give written depositions at the state prosecutors office.
Monitoring post
The military said Tuesday that troops overran a hut in Mindanao believed used as monitoring post by Moro gunmen protecting al-Ghozi.
Seized from the hut in the town of Tungawan were communications equipment and solar panels but no arrests were made because the rebels escaped hours before the soldiers arrived on Monday, the military said.
"While government troops were closing in on their target, said armed group scampered from a makeshift hut leaving behind their communications equipment," the military's Southern Command said.
The men who fled are believed to be Moro gunmen protecting al-Ghozi, who has been on the run after escaping from a jail inside the police headquarters in Manila in July.
Thousands of police officers, backed by military troops, have been scouring areas in Mindanao for al-Ghozi.
"Operating troops are still in the area and conducting follow-up operations," the Southern Command said.
'Fall guy'
Al-Ghozi is a self-confessed member of the Jemaah Islamiyah, which western intelligence agencies have linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network and blamed for a spate of bombings in Indonesia, including the Bali attacks that left over 200 dead last year.
At the time of al-Ghozi's escape, he was already serving a 17-year jail term for illegal possession of explosives.
JI operations chief Riduan Isamuddin, alias Hambali, has also been indicted together with al-Ghozi for the manila December 2000 bombings.
The Philippines has said it wants to try Hambali here. Hambali was arrested last month by US authorities and is being held at an undisclosed place.
Yunos "maintains his innocence and claims that he is another fall guy," Macauyag said, accusing police of carrying out indiscriminate raids on Moro communities for publicity.
It was not clear how the reversal of plea would affect the case, and court officials were not immediately available for comment. AFP
(September 10, 2003 issue) |
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