Philippines jails 17 militants for life for mass kidnapping of tourists

MANILA: A Philippine court has convicted and sentenced to life 17 Islamic militants for kidnapping for ransom 21 people, including European tourists a...

MANILA:  A Philippine court has convicted and sentenced to life 17 Islamic militants for kidnapping for ransom 21 people, including European tourists and Asian workers, from a dive resort in Malaysia more than two decades ago, officials said on Monday.

The Filipino militants belonged to the small but violent Abu Sayyaf group.

Among those convicted by the Regional Trial Court in Taguig city, a suburb of the capital region, were two Abu Sayyaf leaders, Hilarion Santos and Redendo Dellosa, who had been included in a United Nations terrorism blacklist, the Department of Justice in Manila said.

The 17 were sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of pardon after 30 years, according to justice officials.

In April 2000, Abu Sayyaf militants armed with assault rifles and machetes, traveled by speedboats from their southern Philippine jungle strongholds and raided the Sipadan Island dive resort in neighboring Malaysia, where they abducted 21 Western tourists and resort workers at gunpoint.