Saturday, August 14, 2004 17 Sayyafs sentenced to death for Lamitan siege
ISABELA -- Seventeen Abu Sayyaf bandits were sentenced to death Friday by a local court for the kidnapping and murder of Christians and foreigners in Mindanao.
The defendants, including four who broke out of prison in April and who were tried in absentia, each received three death sentences plus life imprisonment for the murders and abductions on the southern island of Basilan in 2001.
Meted the death penalty were Lidjalun Sakandal, Abdulajid Ngaya, Guillermo Wahid Salcedo, Kamar Jaafar, Abdurahman Ismael Diolagla, Haber Asari, Bashier Ordonez, Margani Hapilon Iblong, Imran Hakimin, Nadzmer Mandangan, Sonny Sali, Jaid Awalal and Rene Abbas.
The four others sentenced in absentia were Absmar Aluk, Mubin Ibba, Toting Hano and Bashier Abdul.
It was the first mass conviction of members of the group linked to the al-Qaeda terror network, self-styled Muslim militants who have been kidnapping and killing Christians and foreigners in Mindanao for a decade.
Some of the convicted men sobbed when Basilan Regional Trial Court Judge Danilo Bucoy's verdict was read out at the tightly guarded courthouse in the capital of Basilan island while crowds outside the building shouted curses at the defendants.
About 200 police and soldiers, backed by two armored cars, secured the entire street where the courthouse was situated.
The group, followers of Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffy Janjalani, seized three Americans and a group of Filipino tourists and resort workers from the western island of Palawan and brought them to Basilan in May 2001.
They then seized more Filipino hostages in Basilan, killing several of them when they found they could not pay the ransom.
Many Filipino hostages were recovered or were freed after ransoms were paid. However an American hostage, Peruvian-born Guillermo Sobero, was beheaded while another, missionary Martin Burnham, was killed when troops stormed the Abu Sayyaf camp in June 2002.
Burnham's wife Gracia was recovered alive and last month she returned to the Philippines to testify against other accused Abu Sayyaf members in a separate trial in Manila.
The convictions only involved murders and kidnappings of Filipinos committed on Basilan and the Abu Sayyaf members will face other charges for the deaths of Sobero and Martin Burnham, court officials said.
All capital punishment cases must be reviewed by the Supreme Court before the death penalty is carried out.
As they were led out of the courtroom, some of the defendants shouted defiantly, "Allahu Akbar" (God is great).
One of the convicted men, Bashir Mandangan, said: "It's okay, even if you kill me 10 times, I am still happy. Tell that to your government."
The Abu Sayyaf have been linked by both the US and Philippine governments to Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network.
Philippine troops, with US training and support, have weakened the Abu Sayyaf in recent months but the group remains active in the southern islands. (AFP)
