22-10-2024 (MANILA) In a landmark ruling that brings closure to a case spanning more than two decades, a Philippine court has handed down life sentences to 17 Islamic militants for their involvement in a daring cross-border kidnapping that shocked the international community at the turn of the millennium.
The Regional Trial Court in Taguig, a suburb of Manila, found the defendants guilty of abducting 21 individuals, including European holidaymakers and Asian staff, from the Sipadan Island dive resort off the coast of Malaysia in April 2000. The convicted militants, all members of the notorious Abu Sayyaf group, face life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 30 years.
Among those sentenced were Hilarion Santos and Redendo Dellosa, two high-ranking Abu Sayyaf leaders previously listed on a United Nations terrorism watchlist. The Department of Justice in Manila hailed the verdict as a significant victory in the country’s ongoing battle against extremism.
The brazen raid, which occurred over 23 years ago, saw heavily armed militants arrive by speedboat at the idyllic Malaysian resort. Brandishing assault rifles and machetes, they forcibly took captive a diverse group of victims, including a German family, Finnish tourists, a South African couple, and several Malaysian and Filipino workers.
The hostages were swiftly transported to the dense jungles of Sulu, a southern Philippine province long plagued by insurgency. There, they endured months of captivity under harsh conditions, their ordeal only ending after protracted negotiations and the reported payment of substantial ransoms, allegedly facilitated by then-Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The Abu Sayyaf group, an offshoot of the protracted Muslim separatist conflict in the southern Philippines, has long been designated a terrorist organisation by both Manila and Washington. Known for their brutal tactics, including bombings, kidnappings, and beheadings, the group reached the height of their notoriety in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
In the aftermath of the Sipadan kidnapping, the Philippine military launched a series of intensive operations aimed at dismantling the Abu Sayyaf network. These efforts culminated in the neutralisation of many of the group’s key figures, including Ghalib Andang, the mastermind behind the resort raid, who was killed during a failed jailbreak attempt in 2005.
