US indicts 5 Abu Sayyaf men for murder of 2 Americans

Agence France-Presse ^ | July 24, 2002

[HAL9000]

WASHINGTON – The United States Tuesday charged leaders of the al-Qaeda-linked Filipino guerrilla group Abu Sayyaf in the kidnappings of three US nationals that led to the deaths of two of them.

The federal charges against five suspected guerrilla leaders were announced by Larry Thompson, the deputy US attorney general, and built on an indictment filed by a federal grand jury in February. "The indictment charges the five named defendants with conspiracy resulting in death, hostage-taking and three counts of hostage-taking resulting in death," Thompson said.

Martin and Gracia Burnham, missionaries from Kansas who had lived in the Philippines for 15 years, were among 20 people abducted by the self-styled Islamic freedom fighters from a resort in Palawan province in May 2001. Peruvian-born Guillermo Sobero, also a US national, was beheaded shortly after the group's kidnapping, but the Burnhams were held for more than a year and forced to make statements on behalf of their captors.

In the rescue effort June 7 by Philippine troops, Martin Burnham and Filipina nurse Ediborah Yap were killed. Gracia Burnham sustained a gunshot wound to the leg.

February's indictment was filed under seal to prevent any further harm from coming to the hostages, Thompson explained, but Tuesday's indictment was updated to add Burnham and Yap "to the list of people whose death resulted from these criminal acts."

The initial charges date back to the August 2000 kidnap of American Jeffrey Schilling, who eventually escaped his captors after seven months of demands that a ransom of 10 million dollars be paid went unheeded, Thompson said.

The indictment Tuesday sends a signal, he added, that the US "will work to track down and prosecute all those who commit barbaric acts of terrorism against Americans here at home and abroad."

Abu Sayyaf spokesperson Abu Sabaya, also known as Aldam Tilao or Abu Catada or Abu Ahmad Salayuddin, was among the five named in the indictment. He was reportedly killed along with two other Abu Sayyaf members in a clash with Philippine soldiers on June 21 in deep waters off Sibuco, Zamboanga del Norte. His body has yet to be recovered.

Also named in the indictment were Khadafi Abubakar Janjalani, considered a spiritual leader of Abu Sayyaf known as Abu Muktar; Isnilon Totoni Hapilon, alias Abu Musab, a second in command known as "the Deputy"; Jainal Antel Sali Junior, alias Abu Solaiman, a commander for the rebels known as "the Engineer"; and Hamsiraji Marusi Sali, a commander also known as Tiberkis or Jose Ramirez.

[El Gato]

Hmm, this is not a matter for US prosecuters, federal or otherwise. Phillipino prosecturers, yes, but not US. The "crime" occurred there after all. If the US is to be invovlved, it should be the DoD, with accompanying Congressional declaration. A Declaration of War would be nice, but any Congressional action, maybe a Letter of Marque and Reprisal, would also work.