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| Southeast Asia |
| Muslim cleric linked to Abu Sayyaf freed |
| 2008-04-20 |
| A Muslim preacher arrested by military and police operatives in Boracay Island last month was freed 8 p.m. Thursday, upon orders from a court which said it found no basis for his arrest. Muhammad Bani, 27, walked free from the detention center of the Army's Intelligence Service Group in Fort Bonifacio, 40 days after he was arrested by operatives of the Intelligence Service Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group. He was met by his family and lawyer, his elder brother, Mahdi, said. Muhammad said he is fine. “I am just happy to be home,” he said during a telephone interview. His family had earlier said he was beaten and subjected to electric shocks while at the detention center but this was denied by military officials. Muhammad and his friend Al-Midzbar Bunajal, 24, were arrested in Boracay Island March 8. The two were about to enter the Muslim community in Sitio Ambulong in Barangay Manoc-Manoc when heavily armed men in plainclothes allegedly forced them into a vehicle and sped away. Muhammad was arrested because he was alleged to be “Abu Tony”, one of the 59 members of the Abu Sayyaf bandit group ordered arrested by the Pasig City Regional Trial Court for the 2001 Dos Palmas kidnapping. The AFP has also accused Muhammad of links to international terror groups including the Jemaah Islamiyah. Bunajal was released two days after their arrest because there was no charge against him, AFP spokesperson Lt. Col. Bartolome Bacarro said in an earlier interview. |
| Posted by:Fred |