Gov't scored over 'abduction' of two Muslims in Basilan

MANILA, Philippines - Rights group Karapatan and the organization of families of the enforced disappearances on Monday alleged that state agents have abducted two Muslims and lodged trumped-up charges against them.

The groups said the abduction of  Sheikh Bashier Mursalum and Muin Kahal was carried out appened after President Benigno Aquino III signed the Anti-Enforced Disappearance Act of 2012 in December.

"Muin Kahal and Mursalum’s disappearances show that the law itself is not a deterrent in the practice of enforced disappearance. This poses a challenge to the law against enforced disappearance and to the Aquino government to prosecute those who abducted and detained them,"Karapatan secretary general Cristina Palabay said

"The law seems brave enough to make state agents criminally liable for the act of enforced disappearance but we have yet to see its enforcement," Palabay added.

Karapatan said Mursalum, a Muslim scholar, was abducted by state agents last January 22 in Basilan.

Two days later, Hamja was kidnapped by armed men at 2 a.m. in his home in Bgy. Kumalarang, Isabela City, Basilan.

"We initially welcomed this new law, but the rage in our hearts remains knowing that the families of Hamja and Mursalum are searching in vain for their loved ones," Lorena Santos, secretary general of Desaparecidos, said.

The groups said Muhammadiya Hamja, Muin Kahal’s brother, was also a victim of enforced disappearance in 2001 but was located by Karapatan members, Muhammadiya’s son and Commission on Human Rights investigators.

"We found him hidden and tortured inside the office of Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Camp Crame, Philippine National Police Headquarters in Quezon City," Palabay said. 

Muhammadiya is now sickly but is still detained, facing trumped up charge of bombing in Basilan province --the same case he and his brother Muin Kahal already faced in 2001 but was acquitted in 2005 for lack of evidence. - Dennis Carcamo