Philippine Muslims accuse police of targeting Muslims

1/30/2005 9:00:00 AM GMT

Source:chinaview.ch

The Philippine's Muslim leaders accused the National Police of using the country's Muslims as "scapegoats" in its campaign to crackdown on rebels.

Led by the Anan Mindanao representative Mujiv Hataman, the Muslim leaders laid the blame on the three senior police superintendents as the ones who ordered the raid of the Islamic Information Center (IIC) in Manila which resulted in the arrest of 16 Muslims allegedly conspiring to bomb the celebration of the Feast of the Black Nazarene in Quiapo, Manila on January 7th.

Hataman says that the three police officers had devised the campaign against "alleged terrorists in the Muslim community" in order to use the operations as means of getting a promotion.

Congressman Hataman made his statements at a weekly news conference attended by the President of the Assalam Party List, Pendatun "Penny" Disimban, and the Grand Imam of the Manila Grand Mosque, Ustadz Abdul Basit Marangit.

The three leaders condemned police treatment of Muslims of seeing them as "the usual suspects" in crimes other than those deemed as "terror activities."

They added that many Muslims in Quiapo, one of the Muslim districts in Manila, are victims of harassment, illegal arrests and detentions and extortion by corrupt policeman. Furthermore, the fabrication of evidence such as drugs planting is commonplace when the police extort Muslims.

According to the Bangsamoro Human Rights Center, the arrest of the 16 Muslims on January 7th was just the "tip of the iceberg" as around 700 Muslims are languishing in three detention centers in Metro Manila.

In addition, there are around 80 female Muslims at Camp Karingal in Quezon City, 15 female and 300 male detainees at the Manila City Jail, and over 300 Muslims at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, the Muslim leaders said.

Out of all the detainees, 20 percent of these Muslims have already spent six years in jail without trial and only 15 percent of the detainees have really committed drug-related crimes.