RP chases payoff rumor in jailbreak
RP chases payoff rumor in jailbreak
PHILIPPINES: The Philippine government said on Thursday it was checking reports of a US$10 million payoff in the escape of a notorious Islamic militant from a maximum-security prison in the capital.
The comments by Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes came as President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo vowed to stamp out corruption in the police, saying that was most probably how Indonesian Fathur Rohman Al-Ghozi, the chief bomb-maker of the Jamaah Islamiyah network, was able to escape.
Reyes also said he was checking with Indonesian officials whether Al-Ghozi had reached Jakarta, as a local radio station has reported. According to Reyes, the radio station reported that Al-Ghozi was now in Jakarta and that a senior Filipino police officer who helped him escape received a payoff of $10 million.
Al-Ghozi bolted on Monday from a special detention center at the national police headquarters in Manila with two members of a local Muslim rebel group, the Abu Sayyaf. --Reuters
;REUTERS;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Cambodia-tanks Cambodian army cancels tank practice before polls JP/12/ASEAN
Tank practice canceled before polls
CAMBODIA: Cambodia's military has canceled plans for live-fire tank exercises near the capital just before this month's general elections in case voters get scared, a top general said on Thursday.
The war-ravaged Southeast Asian nation goes to the polls on July 27 and, although the political atmosphere appears to be calmer than in previous years, many voters fear election rivalry will boil over into bloodshed.
Factional fighting between royalist troops and those loyal to then co-prime minister Hun Sen erupted on the streets of the capital in 1997, leaving scores dead. There were also violent clashes following national polls in 1998.
An opposition Khmer-language newspaper reported on Thursday that the army was going to stage the rare maneuvers at a range around 50 km west of Phnom Penh in a bid to intimidate voters ahead of the polls. --Reuters
;REUTERS;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Vietnam-religion Vietnam reduces dissident priest's sentence JP/12/ASEAN
Rebel priest's sentence reduced
VIETNAM: In an apparent softening of its stand on religious figures, Communist Vietnam has reduced a 20-year-sentence slapped on a dissident Catholic priest.
The state-run Thanh Nien (Young People) reported on Thursday that Judge Tran Cong Quyen had signed a decision to reduce Nguyen Van Ly's sentence by five years on Wednesday.
Ly, an outspoken priest, was jailed for 15 years in 2001 plus five years of house arrest on charges of undermining national unity and disobeying probation rules.
Ly, 57, has been the focus of international attention, including that of the European Commission, which asked about Ly's situation in September 2002 when Prime Minister Phan Van Khai visited Brussels.
Separately, an Australian woman of Vietnamese descent who was sentenced to death for trying to smuggle heroin to Sydney, Le My Linh, 44, has been granted clemency and sentenced to life in prison, the Vietnamese government said on Thursday. --Reuters
;AP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Malaysia-kidnap Malaysian son arrested for allegedly kidnapping father JP/12/ASEAN
Son nabbed for kidnapping father
MALAYSIA: A college student kidnapped his father and collected a 50,000 ringgit (US$13,157) ransom from his mother before he was arrested, news reports said on Thursday.
Jacob Jebaraj, 20, was charged in court along with five friends for kidnapping 53-year-old Ponusamy Nalathamby on July 1 in Tampoi town, about 220 km south of Kuala Lumpur. All six face the death penalty or life imprisonment if convicted.
The six did not enter a plea and Magistrate Nuaman Mahmud fixed Oct. 10 for trial, the New Straits Times newspaper reported.
The six, with several others still at large, are alleged to have held Ponusamy captive overnight until his wife paid the ransom. Police arrested the suspects over several days after the kidnapping and recovered 17,000 ringgit (US$4,473) of the ransom. --AP