Sunday, October 15, 2006 Dulmatin’s wife rights, privileges respected: military By Bong Garcia
A TOP military official here said the rights and privileges of Istiada Oemar Sovie alias Amenah Toha is respected and observed while she is in the custody of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).
Sovie, the wife of Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist Amar Bin Usman alias Dulmatin, was arrested earlier this month in the town of Patikul, Sulu.
Sovie’s two sons aged six and eight, were together with her when she was arrested.
Lt. Col. Susthenes Valcorza, chief of the military’s 4th Civil Relations Group, said that the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation (BID) had directed the custodians of Sovie to respect her rights under the law.
This as Valcorza said that Sovie was arrested by authorities for violation of immigration laws and not as a terrorist.
Earlier, Sovie has denied that she is a terrorist citing the Jemaah Islamiyah doesn’t accept female members.
Sovie said that she and her two sons go to the place wherever Dulmatin goes.
Meanwhile, Valcorza refuted the statement of Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) spokesman Eid Kabalu, who alleged that the military interrogators might have forced Sovie to link the JI terrorists with the MILF.
Valcorza has branded Kabalu’s statement as mere speculation saying Sovie’s confession was made in public, in the presence of media and her interpreter.
He said that the military cannot rectify and alter the confessions of Sovie who claimed that the Maguindanao-based MILF is a coddler of JI operatives, or is being trained by the Indonesian group.
“There is now way we can force her for saying what she said,” Valcorza pointed out in a statement.
Kabalu was quoted in a national newspaper that they wanted to talk to Sovie to confirm about her revelations regarding the JI infiltration in the MILF.
The MILF, which is talking peace with the government, has been denying the reported presence of JIs in their camp.
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