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
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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
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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
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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