ZAMBOANGA CITY — Detained Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) Chairman Nur Misuari has been allowed to return to his hometown in the troubled island of Jolo in the southern Philippines, where he is to run for governor in next year’s elections.
A local court granted Misuari permission to register in Jolo, about about 950 km south of Manila.
Misuari was flown to Jolo yesterday with police escorts.
His aide Jamasali Abdurahman, who accompanied Misuari, told Arab News on Wednesday that the MNLF chieftain was running for governor of Sulu in next year’s elections.”
Misuari, former governor of the six-province Autonomous Region of Muslim Minda-nao, is under house arrest near Manila.
He is on trial for rebellion after a failed MNLF uprising on Jolo and Zamboanga City in 2001. The government has accused Misuari of masterminding the attacks. He denied the charges.
Misuari fled to Malaysia where he was arrested and was deported back to the Philippines.
Misuari signed a peace agreement with Manila on Sept. 2, 1996, but many rebels were disgruntled with the accord and accused the government of reneging on the peace deal and for failing to uplift the living standards of Muslims in the strife-torn Mindanao island.
