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WASHINGTON: A founding member of Al-Qaeda-linked Philippine militant group Abu Sayyaf pleaded guilty on Wednesday in a court in Washington to the 1995 kidnap of 16 people, including four US citizens.
Madhatta Haipe, a Philippine citizen who was extradited to the United States in 2009, pleaded guilty to four counts of hostage taking and faces up to 25 years in prison as part of a plea agreement, the Justice Department said.
Haipe admitted organising the kidnap of four US citizens, one US permanent resident and 11 Philippine citizens in December 1995 near remote waterfalls on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines.
He told the hostages they would be held for ransom, and warned the group, which included six children, that militants would track and kill them if they told anyone about their kidnapping after their release.
Four hostages were released shortly after being kidnapped, and the rest were freed days later after a ransom was paid.
Haipe, 48, was indicted before a US court in 2000, and Philippine authorities extradited him to the United States in August 2009, the Justice Department said.
"For roughly 15 years, FBI agents, Justice Department prosecutors and authorities in the Philippines relentlessly pursued this matter on behalf of the victims, who were held hostage and threatened with death by this Abu Sayyaf leader," said David Kris, assistant attorney general for national security.
"With today's guilty plea, Mr Haipe is finally being held accountable for his actions."
US Attorney for the District of Columbia Ronald Machen said the case was intended to send "a clear message."
"We will never tire in our pursuit of justice for those who seek to harm American citizens, whether at home or abroad," he said. "Today's guilty plea demonstrates that there will be serious consequences for those who commit such crimes."
Haipe is scheduled to be sentenced on December 14, and faces up to 25 years in prison as part of a plea agreement.
Abu-Sayyaf, a US-designated terror organisation, was founded in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda-network to fight for an independent Muslim state in the south of the mainly Catholic nation, Philippine military intelligence officials say.
The militants often resort to kidnappings, mainly targeting foreigners and Christians, to raise funds from ransoms. Failure to pay ransoms often results in the beheading of the hostages.
The group is also capable of much bigger strikes, such as the bombing of a ferry in Manila Bay in 2004 that claimed more than 100 lives and was the nation's worst terrorist attack.
- AFP/de
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