Marawi extremist’s widow faces rebellion charges
manila — Philippine prosecutors have recommended an extremist leader’s widow to be charged with inciting rebellion for allegedly posting messages online calling for fighters to join a Daesh grouplinked siege in the country’s south, a Department of Justice report and official said on Friday.
State prosecutors said in a Department of Justice resolution that there was “probable cause” to charge Karen Aizha Hamidon with nearly 300 counts of inciting rebellion.
We just want to show them that our laws are not just mere decorations
Peter Ong, Senior Assistant State Prosecutor
While heavily armed militants were staging the disastrous uprising in southern Marawi city, Hamildon allegedly posted at least 295 separate messages, mostly through the Telegram and WhatsApp messaging services, to invite fighters to join the five-month mutiny. Hamidon has denied the allegations.
If eventually filed in court, the recommended charges would be one of the first cyberterrorism cases in the country and serve as a warning that militants could be criminally liable for online statements that call on people to stage an armed rebellion against the government, Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Ong said.
“We just want to show them that our laws are not just mere decorations,” Ong said. “We mean to enforce them.”
Thousands of troops, backed by artillery, tanks and airstrikes, crushed the uprising on Oct. 23 after the fierce urban clashes left more than 1,100 combatants and civilians dead, including more than 900 Filipino and foreign militants. The violence displaced about half a million people and turned Marawi’s business and residential districts into a smoldering war zone. —