DOJ takes custody of Dulmatin’s wife, kids

The Department of Justice (DOJ) officially placed yesterday under its custody the wife of International terrorist Ammar Bin Usman a.k.a Dulmatin, one of the principal suspects in the Bali bombings in 2002.

In a press conference, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said Indonesian national Istiada Binti Haja Omar Sovie, wife of Dulmatin and their two sons Ali Omar and Idar Omar, were turned over yesterday to the DOJ by the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines after the ISAFP completed Sovie’s interrogation and debriefing.

Gonzalez said the Indonesian embassy also sought Sovie’s release from detention, citing "gender sensitivity."

"The Indonesian embassy is citing gender sensitivity for a Muslim woman," Gonzalez said. "They are requesting that (Sovie) should not be detained. But it cannot be, she has to be detained."

Gonzalez said he wrote to Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo regarding concerns about the security of Sovie and her sons.

"In order to specially provide for their security and well being particularly their special dietary requirements (halal food) and gender segregation requirements, they will be temporarily under the care of the Witness Protection Program (WPP) pending disposition of their case," Gonzalez said to Romulo in his letter dated Nov. 27.

Gonzalez also asked Romulo to formally convey the matter to the Indonesian embassy "with our assurance of any further assistance that may be proper under the circumstances."

He said the ISAFP turned Sovie and her two sons over to the DOJ so their deportation to Indonesia may be processed.

"The ISAFP may have concluded already their interrogation and their debriefing," he added. "Since the plan from the very start was to deport her and the deportation should come from this area, they turned her over to us to implement my own order of deportation."

"We will deport (Sovie). We are just giving more time for further debriefing from our end. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is conducting the debriefing," Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez said Sovie and her sons will be kept in the custody of the DOJ for 10 days and that State Prosecutor Leo Dacera told him that Sovie and her two sons can stay at the DOJ detention cell.

Gonzalez said he did not consider Sovie as a security risk despite earlier threats made by Dulmatin that his group will stage bombings wherever his wife will be.

"Well, I don’t think she is a security risk because she is properly guarded. So far, there is no bound of terror. That is why we are careful," he said.

Gonzalez said Sovie and her two sons should be detained at the NBI, but NBI Director Nestor Mantaring told him that they have no detention cell available for Sovie and her sons.

Meanwhile, United States-backed Filipino soldiers are hunting at least 10 foreign, al-Qaeda-linked terrorists on Jolo island, including five women, Army chief Lt. Gen. Romeo Tolentino said.

Soldiers continue to find home-made bombs in captured rebel encampments, indicating that the terrorists may be struggling to conduct bomb-making training," Tolentino added.

The military launched a massive offensive in August against foreign terrorists allied with the Abu Sayyaf bandit group, but has failed to neutralize these terrorists. — Jose Rodel Clapano