[Straits Times] A POWERFUL Muslim clan accused of staging a massacre last week of 57 civilians, including dozens of journalists, yesterday denied any involvement in the killings in a rare news conference.Thousands of followers rallied outside while Mr Zaldy Ampatuan, governor of a Muslim autonomous region, said his family has hired a battery of lawyers to defend his younger brother, who is the main suspect in the Nov 23 killings.
He charged that they were being politically persecuted and that the government in Manila was preventing even more of his political allies from reaching him.
'The Ampatuan family is under siege,' his statement read. 'This is an illegal persecution and our persecutors in their dire efforts to promote their sagging image are trying to ride... this incident.'
He did not identify his persecutors.
Mr Ampatuan said he and his father, Mr Andal Ampatuan Sr, who has also been linked to the savage killings condemned worldwide, were innocent.
He appealed to the public to respect the law and not prejudge his younger brother, Andal Ampatuan Jr, a local mayor, adding he will resist a plan by President Gloria Arroyo's Interior Secretary to suspend him and other officials of the vast autonomous region that he heads.