Manila asks Washington for access to Hambali

Manila formally asked Washington yesterday to provide access to Asia’s most wanted terrorist suspect, Hambali, who was also accused of involvement in the Rizal Day 2000 bombings in Metro Manila.

Invoking a treaty on mutual legal assistance with Washington, Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople asked in a letter to the US Embassy for Manila to be granted access to Hambali and any information he gives be shared to help the government’s anti-terrorism efforts.

"The Philippines and other countries should have the opportunity to mine the wealth of information that Hambali might be able to provide," he said.

Ople said in his letter that the Philippines reserves the right to seek custody of Hambali pursuant to the treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters between the government and the US.

"We are interested in subjecting him to Philippine justice, but we will wait for our turn," he said. Hambali, an Indonesian also known as Riduan Isamuddin, was captured last week in Thailand, handed over to US authorities and flown to an undisclosed site for interrogation.

Hambali is believed to be the operations chief of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a Southeast Asian extremist Islamic group with suspected links to al-Qaeda network, and Osama bin Laden’s point man in the region.

He has been accused of involvement in a string of bombing plots and attacks, including the deadly blasts on Bali last October and the Aug. 5 attack at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta. Ople pointed out that Hambali has been indicted for his alleged involvement in bombings that killed 22 people in Metro Manila on Dec. 30, 2000 where a warrant for his arrest has been issued. — With AP report