ZAMBOANGA CITY, 6 May 2004 - Peace negotiators yesterday allowed the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to question four of its members arrested by security forces in the southern Philippines for their alleged links with the Jemaah Islamiya terror network.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said their officials will inspect the four militants being held at a military base to make sure that they are not being mistreated.
The four suspects - Abusama Abdulgani, Montasir Esmael, Badruddin Tula and Datu Puti Ungka - were arrested last month near an army roadblock in Maguindanao province.
Government officials have accused them of involvement in bombings allegedly conducted by the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah, and of plotting to conduct more bombings. Explosives and other bomb-making paraphernalia were reportedly found in the possession of the suspects.
The MILF insists that the four were innocent of all charges. It is demanding their immediate release.
“We were given access by the government peace panel to inspect the four MILF members within two weeks time so we can talk with them and check on their condition - whether they have been tortured into confessing alleged JI links or plotting terror attacks,” Kabalu told Arab News.
The military claimed that the four men had admitted working for an Indonesian JI terror suspect, Taufiq Rifqi, who was arrested by Filipino and American intelligence officials at a hotel in Cotabato City in Maguindanao last year.
The JI is blamed for the October 2002 bombings in the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed more than 200 mostly foreign holiday-makers.
Government and rebel peace negotiators are currently holding talks in an effort to end more than three decades of hostilities in the southern Philippines.
