Rights chief rejects charges against soldiers

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) regional office in the southern Philippines has ruled that soldiers did not violate the rights of suspected Abu Sayyaf member Buyong-buyong Isnijal when they raided his house in Basilan on July 25.

Ciriaco Jabido Jr., CHR director for Western Mindanao, said members of the International Solidarity Mission (ISM) have not established the participation of U.S. soldiers in the raid, much more the allegations that one of them shot and injured Isnijal during an interrogation in Basilan last week.

An investigating team from the CHR had confirmed that a U.S. soldier, identified as Reginald Lay, administered first aid on Isnijal before he was brought to Lamitan District Hospital.

"The U.S. medic injected him with an antibiotic immediately, one vial is worth more than P l,000 ($20) so there really was no intent to kill," Jabido said.

The investigating team also managed to establish the presence of other U.S. soldiers at the hospital on the day Isnijal was shot.

Jabido said it was not conclusive whether U.S. soldiers directly participated in the raid.

Congressman Satur Ocampo discovered the shooting of Isnijal last week, when he led the ISM on a fact-finding mission to Basilan.

The ISM's evidence included testimony from Judaira, Isnijal's wife.

Jabido said his commission's investigating team did not discount the possibility that U.S. soldiers were near Isnijal's house when it was raided by the Filipino soldiers.

On whether or not Isnijal's rights were violated as being alleged, Jabido said his team found out that the suspect was shot while he was trying to escape.

The doctor who received Isnijal at the Lamitan District Hospital told the human rights commission that the trajectory of the bullet that hit Isnijal's left thigh was flat.

"It entered at the rear portion of the thigh and exited at the front, which leads us to the conclusion that he was shot while attempting to escape," said Jabido.

The fact that Isnijal was hit in the left thigh also indicated that the soldiers, supposedly numbering around 30, just really wanted to arrest him.