American hostage "caged" by
Philippine Muslim rebels
ZAMBOANGA, Philippines, Sept 6
(AFP) - Muslim rebels are holding a American hostage handcuffed in a wooden pen, sources
said Wednesday, as hopes grew that six Europeans held by another group could soon be
freed.
American hostage Jeffrey
Schilling has been imprisoned in the empty space underneath a traditional elevated, wooden
house-on-stilts, used in rural areas in the Philippines, a government intelligence source
said.
He had been handcuffed and was
in an animal-style pen in the rebel's hideout in the southern island of Jolo because he
was resisting his captors from the Abu Sayyaf rebels, the source added, but denied the
24-year-old was on hunger strike.
Earlier, Schilling's mother
broke her silence to refute speculation her son was involved in spying or arms dealing.
"There have been
allegations that my son Jeffrey Schilling went to the Abu Sayyaf camp to negotiate about
weapons," Carol Schilling said in a written statement to AFP in Washington Tuesday.
"I just want to make it
clear to Abu Sayyaf and the world that he is not now, nor has he ever been, involved in
arms dealing."
"My son is not a CIA
agent," she added, appealing to the rebels to release her son unharmed, after he was
kidnapped on August 28.
She said her son was a devout
Muslim, who had converted to Islam in 1994 and had met his Filipina wife, Osani, through
friends in the southern Philippine city of Zamboanga.
Previous reports said Osani is
related to an Abu Sayyaf spokesman, and the couple met with the rebels on Jolo at the
relative's behest. Osani has since been detained by police.
Schilling is being held by a
different Abu Sayyaf faction, to the group who captured 21 hostages from the Malaysian
island dive resort of Sipadan on Easter Sunday.
Philippine negotiators were
tenatively due to fly to the southern city of Jolo on Thursday hoping to pick up some of
the six Europeans still being held by the other group, sources in Zamboanga said.
One of the negotiators said
they might only pick up three hostages on Thursday and would have to get the remaining
three later, hopefully this week.
Chief negotiator Roberto
Aventajado and Libyan mediator Rajab Azzarouq, who are still in Manila, were also
scheduled to arrive in the southern Philippines on Thursday.
Azzarouq has been instrumental
in helping to win the release of most of those captured from Sipadan on April 23 by the
Abu Sayyaf and taken across the sea border to Jolo.
The rebels later freed some of
their hostages but then took even more captives including foreign journalists covering the
kidnapping.
Two Finns, a German and a
Frenchman, who were among the 21 seized from the Malaysian resort are still being held,
along with two French TV journalists, seized in July while seeking an interview with the
hostages.
The releases of previous
hostages has been tainted by widespread reports that hefty ransoms were paid for their
release.
The Abu Sayyaf are also holding
16 Filipinos including 12 Christian preachers who entered their hideout in July to pray
for the hostages.
Aventajado said late Tuesday,
that "parallel negotiations" were going on for the 12 preachers amid
contradictory statements as to whether they were being held against their will or not.
However, the negotiations for
the Filipino and European hostages do not cover Schilling.
Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya
said in a radio interview in Zamboanga that the government has still had not sent any
emissary to negotiate for the kidnapped American.
Provincial vice-governor Munib
Estino has been named to negotiate for Schilling but the Abu Sayyaf are reluctant to
accept him, a government intelligence source in Jolo said.
Fears for Schilling's health
arose last week after Abu Sabaya said the American was on a hunger strike.
State department spokesman
Richard Boucher has called on the Abu Sayyaf rebels to free Schilling saying he had
"long-term health problems" and needed regular medication.
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