MANILA, 7 November 2007 — A court yesterday ruled that Muslim leader Nur Misuari and his spiritual adviser may travel to Saudi Arabia to attend talks reviewing the peace pact signed by his group and the Philippine government.

Judge Winlove Dumayas of the Makati Regional Trial Court Branch 59, which is hearing the rebellion case against the duo, also ordered the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to immediately issue passports to Misuari and fellow inmate Ustadz Abuharis Usman so that they can join the Nov. 10-12 meeting in Jeddah. Involved in the meeting are the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) group of Misuari, the Philippine government, and the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC).

The OIC pushed for the oft-postponed tripartite meeting to review the progress of the peace pact signed by Manila and the MNLF on Sept. 2, 1996. The deal ended the armed struggle the former university professor launched in the 70s. Hundreds of MNLF fighters joined the Philippine military and police forces, while Misuari and other leaders took up positions in government.

With help from the government of then President Fidel V. Ramos, Misuari was elected governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and named concurrent chairman of a Special Zone of Peace and Development in the Southern Philippines.

Many of Misuari’s followers, however, increasingly became disgruntled with the government’s alleged failure to implement provisions of the peace pact.

After losing his post as governor of the autonomous area in an election, Misuari and his loyalist followers launched an uprising in the island of Jolo in November 2001 that left more than 100 people dead. He fled to neighboring Malaysia, where he was promptly arrested and subsequently deported to the Philippines.

Although he is under house arrest in Manila while on trial for the 2001 uprising, Misuari was allowed to run as governor of Jolo and its neighboring provinces last May, but he lost.

With the Makati court’s ruling, Misuari will be returning for the first time in six years to Jeddah, where he stayed in exile from the late 70s until 1986 when Filipinos toppled the Marcos dictatorship in a bloodless uprising.

Court officials said Misuari, who will be allowed to make a pilgrimage to Makkah, may not “engage in any form of political or other activity... that will be inimical to the Philippine government.”

Another condition set by the court was for Misuari and Usman to return to Manila by Nov. 13,

Last week, Misuari’s followers asked the government to set Misuari free for the sake of peace and unity, the same reasons cited by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in pardoning her predecessor, Joseph Estrada. The former president got his pardon even before he could serve his life sentence imposed by the antigraft court Sandiganbayan for the crime of massive plunder. (Additional reports from Inquirer News Service & AFP)