Police insist Al-Ghozi was not executed

The Philippine National Police (PNP) is standing by its story that Indonesian terrorist Fathur Rohman al-Ghozi was killed in a legitimate operation and belied claims by the Al-Ghozi family’s lawyer that Philippine soldiers killed him in a secret execution.

Acting PNP directorial staff chief Director Ricardo de Leon maintained yesterday Al-Ghozi was killed in a shootout on the night of Oct. 12 in Pigkawayan, North Cotabato.

He was reacting to claims made by Wirawan Adnan, a lawyer for the Al-Ghozi family, who said that the autopsy done by Indonesian medico-legal experts indicated Al-Ghozi was not killed during a shootout but in a secret execution.

Adnan said the autopsy findings supported an earlier examination by his team in the Philippines, which found no traces on Al-Ghozi’s hand showing he had fired a weapon.

PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil, for his part, strongly objected to Adnan’s claims.

"How can he say that when he was not there? Even our own team and their representatives from the embassy know that," he told reporters.

He reiterated that an examination made by a physician from Midsayap Medical Diagnostic Hospital showed Al-Ghozi sustained bullet wounds during the firefight.

Indonesia’s foreign ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said earlier that his office had obtained a result from the Philippine National Police (PNP) crime lab, which confirmed that Al-Ghozi had indeed fired a gun using his left hand.

A report made by the Indonesian forensic doctor who performed the autopsy Friday revealed Al-Ghozi was likely shot at long range. While the findings do not rule out the possibility of an execution-style killing, they do appear to refute rumors of a point-blank shooting and lend credence to the official Filipino version about Al-Ghozi’s death.

Mu’nim Idris said Al-Ghozi had been shot three times — twice in the chest and once in the left hand — and that each bullet apparently came from a long distance.

However, he added that it was possible that Al-Ghozi was shot at close range but that he had some kind of protective gear to cushion the shots.

Idris said he did not believe Al-Ghozi could have been running away at the time because he was shot from the front. He noted the three holes in Al-Ghozi’s body were stitched up in the Philippines and described the body as "no longer original, it had been stitched up and polished."

Idris said he and his team were unable to determine the time of Al-Ghozi’s death because of the chemicals used to preserve the body.

Last Thursday, Indonesian Vice President Hamzah Haz urged Manila to explain the circumstances behind Al-Ghozi’s killing to prevent "disharmony" between the two countries.

President Arroyo has denied that Al-Ghozi was executed in cold blood to create a publicity coup before United States President George W. Bush’s visit yesterday.

PNP chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. said earlier that Al-Ghozi’s death has closed the chapter on his escape last July 14, an incident that brought embarrassment to the government.

Al-Ghozi escaped from his detention cell at the PNP headquarters in Camp Crame along with two suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf, a bandit group with links to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda terror network.

He was serving a 17-year sentence for possessing explosives and alleged to be one of the key members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a terror network based in Southeast Asia that also has links with al-Qaeda.

He was also facing charges in connection with the Dec. 30, 2000 bombing of a Light Rail Transit station and four other areas in Metro Manila. The attack killed at least 22 people and wounded more than 100 others.

At one point, Al-Ghozi led police to a ton of TNT that officials say was intended for planned attacks on Western targets in Singapore.

The JI has been blamed for last year’s Bali bombings, which killed 202 people, and the August bombing of Jakarta’s JW Marriott hotel, which killed 12.