Philippine lawyer asks court to halt military assault against Muslim extremists

September 23, 2000
Web posted at: 3:10 PM HKT (0710 GMT)

MANILA, Philippines (Reuters) -- A lawyer claiming to represent Muslim rebel chieftain Galib Andang has asked a Philippine court to halt the military assault on guerrilla bases on a remote southern island.

The petition of Oliver Lozano was given to reporters on Saturday, as the assault entered the eighth day.

In the petition dated September 22, Lozano asked the court to order armed forces chief General Angelo Reyes "to stop the questioned bombings, shoot to kill (order on) Galib Andang and his men as well as managed news/news blackout (on the attack)."

Lozano said Reyes misinterpreted President Joseph Estrada's order to crush the Abu Sayyaf, a loose band of Muslim rebels who profess to be fighting for an independent Islamic state in the south but whose main activity seems to be kidnap for ransom.

The Abu Sayyaf is holding 17 hostages, including three Malaysians and an American. Two Frenchmen held captive by Andang escaped on Tuesday, four days after the assault began.

Government spokesmen have, however, said the American Jeffrey Schilling appears to be in league with the captors, perhaps because of the so-called Stockholm syndrome, in which victims begin to empathise with their kidnappers.

A son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Seif al-Islam, who has been involved in the efforts to free previous hostages, has accused Schilling of being an arms dealer who was doing business with the Abu Sayyaf.

He told France's Figaro Magazine: "We now know that Jeffrey Schilling was selling arms to the rebels."

The group of Andang, who is also known as Commander Robot,is holding 12 Christian evangelists who voluntarily went to the Abu Sayyaf lair to fast for the release of mostly European hostages kidnapped from a Malaysian dive resort in April.

All of the original 21 hostages kidnapped in Malaysia have been released after payment of ransom except for one Filipino.

"We believe that (Estrada's order) to 'pulverise the Abu Sayyaf' should not be interpreted literally but figuratively," Lozano said in a letter to Reyes dated September 21.

"We believe that what the president means is crush the Abu Sayyaf's will to fight...We believe this means arrest at sight, not shoot to kill, without use of unnecessary force that kills or maims innocent civilians and soldiers."

Reyes could not be immediately contacted for comment.

Philippine bomber planes started pounding the Muslim rebel bases on the island of Jolo last Saturday to end the five-month hostage crisis which has embarrassed the Estrada government.

Estrada has ordered the military to crush the Abu Sayyaf and free the remaining hostages.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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