US welcomes conviction of 17 Sayyaf bandits

The United States has welcomed the conviction of 17 Abu Sayyaf bandits who kidnapped three Americans and 17 Filipino tourists from a resort off Palawan three years ago.

All 17 were sentenced to death on Aug. 13 for kidnapping nurses from a church-hospital compound in Lamitan, Basilan in June 2001.

Four of them, who remained at large, were sentenced in absentia.

In a statement, State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said his government has lauded the effort of the Philippines in fighting terrorism in the home front.

"The successful prosecution of these members of a violent, terrorist organization demonstrates the resolve of the Philippines to deny sanctuary to terrorists," he said.

"It is particularly satisfying to see that justice has been done in the case of terrorists who have killed citizens of both our countries."

The 17 were part of a band that beheaded American Guillermo Sobero, and were responsible for the death of American missionary Martin Burnham.

It was the first mass conviction of members of the Abu Sayyaf who have been kidnapping and killing Christians and foreigners in Mindanao for a decade.

The 17 were convicted in a heavily guarded courthouse on Basilan island, where a clerk read the 41-page ruling that included a narration of a kidnapping spree that began with the mass abduction of more than 50 pupils, teachers and a priest in 2000.

Some of the convicted men sobbed when the verdict was read out, while crowds outside the building shouted curses at the defendants.

Among those sentenced to death was prominent Abu Sayyaf leader Mubin Ibba, alias Abu Black, who led the jailbreak on Black Saturday.

Ibba and three others - Toting Hanoh, Jaid Awalan, and Anik Abbas - remain at large after they escaped from the Lamitan jail last April.

The convicts who were present during the reading of the sentence were Urban Salceda, Abdurahman Ismael Dialogia, Abdulajid Ngaya, Haber Asari, Adzmar Aluk, Bashir Abdul, Markani Hapilon Iblong, Lidjalon Sakandal, Imran Hakimin, Nadzmer Isnani Mandangan, Kamar Jaafar, Sonny Asali and Bashir Ordoñez.

As they were led out of the courtroom, some of the defendants shouted defiantly, "Allahu Akbar (God is Great)!"

Thirteen of the 17 convicted Abu Sayyaf have been transferred to the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa City.

The Abu Sayyaf band raided the Jose Torres Hospital in Lamitan on June 2, 2001 to get medicines for their wounded comrades.

The bandits brought along with them hostages from Dos Palmas, Palawan, including American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham, and Sobero.

Soldiers surrounded the building and the rebels took three female nurses and a male hospital clerk hostage to aid their escape.

Two of the nurses and the clerk later escaped.

Another nurse, Ediborah Yap, was killed more than a year later during a military rescue operation in Sirawai, Zamboanga del Norte that also killed Martin Burnham.

Last month Gracia, who was recovered alive, returned to testify against other accused Abu Sayyaf members in a separate trial inside a prison compound at Camp Bagong Diwa in Taguig.