Filipinos accused of links to militants ordered freed

MANILA: Philippine prosecutors have dismissed rebellion complaints against 59 men who were stopped by police and army troops at two checkpoints in the south and accused of attempting to join Islamic State-linked militants who laid siege to a southern city.

Senior government prosecutor Peter Ong said on Thursday the complaints filed by the military against the men were dismissed because of a lack of strong evidence, and authorities were ordered to free all the men.

“It is clear that respondents were not committing the crime of rebellion or any crime at the time of their arrests,” Ong and two other prosecutors said in their findings.

The men, who travelled in two big groups, may have sparked the suspicion of troops and police at checkpoints because of the Marawi siege, “but suspicion alone is not sufficient to arrest, detain, charge and indict respondents”, the prosecutors said.

Military spokesman Brig-Gen Restituto Padilla said the military respected the prosecutors’ decision but that security officials still believed the men could “perhaps be eventually deployed to Marawi”.

The ruling shows that the rule of law continues to work under martial law that was declared in the south by President Rodrigo Duterte to deal with the Marawi crisis, Padilla said, adding that the men were treated well and would be flown back to the south.

A lone witness said the mostly young men were to be given combat training and then deployed to reinforce the beleaguered militants, who were holding out in buildings and mosques in Marawi.

The arrested men strongly denied the allegation, saying they were recruited by a man who promised to bring them to a rebel camp for combat training and then help them be integrated into the military and police under a peace deal with the government. — AP