Monday, February 26, 2007

Militants Denounce Arrest Of Muslim Farmer In Southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 26 Feb) – The militan party list group, Suara, on Monday urged the Commission on Human Rights to investigate the illegal arrest of a Muslim farmer in the southern Philippine port city of Davao.

It said security forces arrested Nahar Darawi, 20, for a still unknown reason. It condemned the arrest that occurred Friday in Purok 5 in the village of San Isidro in Bunawan District.

"We have been warning about this and it is coming; the Moro people suffering the deadly effects of a law anchored on paranoia and the desire to curtail the basic rights of the people," said Zaynab Ampatuan, national deputy security general of Suara.

"We condemn this incident and all the incidents where the Moro people, the national minority, end up being victims of an oppressive government. What happened to Nahar Darawi is an additional proof that this government can tag any individual as terrorist, make unlawful arrests and detain without filing charges against the person," Ampatuan said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

Ampatuan said the farmer was arrested just after Friday’s Muslim prayers. Police and military operatives barged into the houses, even without search warrants, and seized Darawi and interrogated for hours, his relatives said.

"The military and police wanted some information from Nahar Darawi and they wanted it pathetically that they took him even without proper court documents. This just shows that civilians barely can trust their lives and freedom from very people who are supposed to secure them and assure them of free space for the exercise of this freedom," Ampatuan said.

Abubakar Uy, the party list’s secretary general in Mindanao, denounced the arrest.

"We also call on the Commission on Human Rights to investigate. This is not just a simple case of questioning and wanting to get information from a farmer. This is about the Moro people being the usual suspects. This is about harassment and profiling," Uy said.

Uy said the occurrence of this incident, along with other similar cases in Mindanao is one of the reasons why their group has consistently registered their opposition to the enactment of the anti-terror bill.

He said if such violations to basic human rights of the Moro and the rest of the national minorities are prevalent now, "how much more if such a hasty and vague legislation is implemented soon."

Last year, Rakman Camili, from Tagum City, was allegedly abducted by the military and had never been seen since then. Authorities linked Camili to the bombing of Sasa Wharf in April 2003 that left scores of people dead and wounded. (Mindanao Examiner)

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