Mother pleads for release of American
held by Philippine guerrillas
WASHINGTON, Sept 01 (AFP) - The
mother of kidnapped American Jeffrey Schilling on Thursday appealed for his release and
told his Muslim captors in the Philippines that he had no connection with the CIA.
Schilling, 24, who graduated
last year from the University of California at Berkeley, is being held by Muslim
guerrillas who accuse him of being a CIA agent and have threatened to kill him.
Carol Schilling, 51, who lives
in Oakland, California, denied in a San Francisco Chronicle interview that her son had any
connection with the Central Intelligence Agency.
Jeffrey Schilling graduated
with a degree in Near Eastern Studies and was living in Oakland until his departure for
the Philippines in March, she said.
"He went to the
Philippines because he had sympathy for the Muslim people, the poverty," she said. He
had converted to Islam six years ago and had befriended Filipino Muslims living in the San
Francisco area.
She described him as a
"passionate, very idealistic" young man who soon after arriving in the
Philippines sent her an e-mail saying he had "met the girl of my dreams".
He married Filipina Ivi Usani
two months ago and the couple were living in Zamboanga in the southern Philippines. Last
week he e-mailed his mother to say that they would be coming home this coming Sunday.
"He needed to start
working for his wife and kids they planned to have," she said.
However, Ivi, apparently
related to one of the leaders of the Abu Sayyaf guerrilla group, took him to their jungle
hideout in the remote island of Jolo, where he has been detained ever since.
"He may have gone to see
them hoping to have a discussion about Islam," his mother said.
The gunmen have threatened to
kill him after Washington rejected their demand for the release of convicted World Trade
Center bomber Ramzi Youssef and two other people held in US jails. The faction beheaded
two Filipino hostages in April.
The group has kidnapped dozens
of people in recent months and has released some of them in small batches, usually in
exchange for ransoms.
Aside from Schilling, they are
still holding six Europeans and 18 Filipinos.
His wife Ivi is convinced he
will be freed soon, said Carol Schilling, who spoke to her daughter-in-law by telephone.
"She promised me that he
wopuld be back by September 3, but I don't know how it will happen," she said.
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