It was around 5:30 a.m. when my cameraman Ramil knocked on the door of my room. “We have to go now. Romeo has arrived and is waiting outside the hostel,” he said. I was already up, well prepared for the meeting with one of the leaders of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Sulu Island. Romeo was the guide and driver set to take me and my team into the island’s jungle to meet this leader.
The plan was to return within three hours to Jolo, the island’s main city. I had promised Jolo’s mayor to attend the Philippine Independence Day ceremony. This was on June 12, 2012. I was working on a documentary about Mindanao and the Muslims of the southern Philippines, which required me to travel from Manila to Sulu Island.
My Filipino coordinator said he was tied up with his work in Manila but had arranged all the interviews and made all the arrangements for my visit to Zamboanga City and Sulu Island, including the interview with the ASG leader. He kept saying: “My brother, you will be in good hands.”
The night before I was kidnapped, he sent me a text saying the same thing. Something inside me warned me of a lurking threat but I ignored the feeling. My coordinator arranged the accommodation for me and my team at Sulu Students Hostel and insisted that I refuse to stay with the governor of the island or with the mayor of Jolo. “They should not know about our plans to meet with the ASG leader,” he said.
As Romeo drove toward the jungle, I had a feeling I would not return soon. The car crashed three times during the journey; the third time, Romeo left the car on the road and told us (I and my team) to continue on foot. This added to my feeling that something was not right; you cannot just leave the car on the road and continue with your journey unless it is serious.
The journalist in me ignored every sign of threat and kept me going. “You should do this scoop, meet the ASG leader in the jungle and get a first-hand account of the conflict in Mindanao,” I thought to myself. I had interviewed all the other parties involved in the conflict of Mindanao by then.
We were deep inside the Patikol area, ASG’s stronghold. Armed men from every side of the jungle appeared with guns and munitions. Abu Rami, an ASG leader who was later ambushed and killed by the Philippine army, gave money to Romeo, who left us with our kidnappers.
I spent 18 months in captivity, in the heart of the Sulu jungle, living among ignorant people, to say the least. When Sheikh Mohammed Hussein, the grand mufti of Jerusalem, appealed to my kidnappers to release me, they had hardly heard of Jerusalem. One of them asked me about it, to which I said: “Have you heard about Al-Aqsa Mosque?” He said: “Yes, that is in Spain?” I could barely keep myself from bursting into laughter.
I was astonished by their ignorance and could hardly believe what I heard from them in the first six months of my kidnapping. But soon I realized the jungle had its own world disconnected from the outside. I appeared alien to them. During the first month of my kidnapping, all the men, women and children would gather around my hut watching me carefully, as if I was a new creature that landed in their world.
When the mufti of Sulu, Abd Al-Baqi Abu Bakr, contacted them via a local mediator and asked them to release me, denouncing their act, they said about him: “He is not an honest man, he is astray and wants to take ransom money for himself.” I told them: “But is it right for you to deprive me of my freedom and demand to have my money, which you have no right to?”
Five years since my kidnapping, the situation in the southern Philippines does not seem to be getting any better. Kidnappings and executions of hostages continue. Canadians John Ridsdel and Robert Hall were beheaded in April and July 2016, respectively, by an ASG thug named Ben who was an illiterate and former drug addict at best.
The ASG has declared its allegiance to Daesh. In addition to groups that split from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), such as the Maute Group and a faction of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF), groups from ASG joined Daesh in the Philippines and formed the State of the Philippines led by Insilon Hapilon, a former ASG leader not very different from Ben.
The Philippine government and armed forces are not innocent. They are part of the problem and their policies over the years have resulted in a sense of anger, grievance and hatred toward the state among the Muslim population in the south.
The ASG element that joined Daesh found its new umbrella very similar in its actions, as both have the same traditions and mindset. These people have been kidnapping, robbing and killing, apparently for the cause of the Moros, and allowed their ignorance to justify their ugly deeds.
People who do not respect their word, they promised to give me an interview but betrayed my team and I. They never kept a single promise they made regarding my release. Even Romeo, whom Shakespeare made a symbol of love and loyalty, turned out to be a traitor by being associated with the ASG.
• Baker Atyani can be reached on Twitter @atyanibaker.
Journalist Baker Atyani looks back on kidnap ordeal in Philippine jungle
Journalist Baker Atyani looks back on kidnap ordeal in Philippine jungle
Journalists arrested in Turkiye over Syria drone deaths demo
- Turkiye has up to 18,000 troops in Syria, according to a Turkish official, and has said it could launch a military operation if the Kurdish forces in northern Syria do not lay down their arms
ISTANBUL: Turkish authorities arrested nine people, including seven journalists, for taking part in banned demonstration in support of two Turkish-Kurdish journalists killed by a Turkish drone in northern Syria, media and rights groups said Sunday.
Nazim Dastan, 32, and Cihan Bilgin, 29, who worked for Kurdish media, were killed Thursday near the Tishrin dam, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Aleppo, when their car exploded, the Dicle Firat Turkish journalists’ association said.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the journalists were killed by a Turkish drone, as did Kurdish media in Turkiye and Syria.
The MLSA Turkish media rights group said 59 people had been detained for taking part in a protest Saturday banned by police. It said 50 people subsequently released.
“Seven journalists detained yesterday as they tried to make a statement in favor of the dead journalists Nazim Dastan and Cihan Bilgin” have been formally arrested for “terrorist propaganda,” MLSA said on the X social media platform.
Since the fall of Bashar Assad on December 8, Turkiye has supported an offensive by armed groups against Kurdish forces that control a zone in northern Syria.
Turkiye has up to 18,000 troops in Syria, according to a Turkish official, and has said it could launch a military operation if the Kurdish forces in northern Syria do not lay down their arms.
Albania bans TikTok for a year after killing of teenager
- Prime Minister Edi Rama government’s decision comes after a 14-year-old schoolboy was stabbed to death in November by a fellow pupil
TIRANA: Albania on Saturday announced a one-year ban on TikTok, the popular short video app, following the killing of a teenager last month that raised fears over the influence of social media on children.
The ban, part of a broader plan to make schools safer, will come into effect early next year, Prime Minister Edi Rama said after meeting with parents’ groups and teachers from across the country.
“For one year, we’ll be completely shutting it down for everyone. There will be no TikTok in Albania,” Rama said.
Several European countries including France, Germany and Belgium have enforced restrictions on social media use for children. In one of the world’s toughest regulations targeting Big Tech, Australia approved in November a complete social media ban for children under 16.
Rama has blamed social media, and TikTok in particular, for fueling violence among youth in and outside school.
His government’s decision comes after a 14-year-old schoolboy was stabbed to death in November by a fellow pupil. Local media had reported that the incident followed arguments between the two boys on social media. Videos had also emerged on TikTok of minors supporting the killing.
“The problem today is not our children, the problem today is us, the problem today is our society, the problem today is TikTok and all the others that are taking our children hostage,” Rama said.
TikTok said it was seeking “urgent clarity” from the Albanian government.
“We found no evidence that the perpetrator or victim had TikTok accounts, and multiple reports have in fact confirmed videos leading up to this incident were being posted on another platform, not TikTok,” a company spokesperson said.
Suspect in German Christmas market attack was ‘not quite what many rushed to assume’, veteran British journalist says
- ‘Evidence from his social media indicates he was an anti-Islam doctor who arrived in Germany in 2006 from Saudi Arabia’
DUBAI: British journalist Andrew Neil said the attacker behind Friday night’s deadly car-ramming at a busy Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany appeared to be ‘not quite what many on social media rushed to assume.’
“Evidence from his social media indicates he was an anti-Islam doctor who arrived in Germany in 2006 from Saudi Arabia,” the veteran journalist posted on his social media account.
The suspect, who was identified by German authorities as 50-year-old Saudi psychologist Taleb Al-Abdulmohsen, who had permanent residency and had lived in Germany for almost two decades. The motive for the car-ramming remained unknown, and a police operation was under way in the town of Bernburg, south of Magdeburg, where the suspect was believed to have lived.
The Saudi doctor behind last night’s deadly Christmas market massacre in Magdeburg appears to be not quite what many on social media rushed to assume.
— Andrew Neil (@afneil) December 21, 2024
Evidence from his social media indicates he was an anti-Islam doctor who arrived in Germany in 2006 from Saudi Arabia.…
Reports have noted that Saudi Arabia had warned German authorities about the attacker, who had posted extremist views on his personal X account. Germany’s Der Spiegel said the attacker sympathized with the far-right Alternative for Germany party. The magazine did not say where it got the information.
“Various media reports suggest he helped ex-Muslims, particularly women, to flee Saudi Arabia after turning their backs on Islam,” Neil commented. Neil also noted that the suspect posted tweets in support Elon Musk, jailed far right activist Tommy Robinson and malevolent conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
“His social media posts also indicate he thought Germany not doing enough to help Saudi female asylum seekers who had rejected Islam – and that the authorities were trying to undermine his work on their behalf,” the British journalist added.
“In his recent social-media posts published days before the attack he claimed the German government was promoting Islamisation and accused authorities of censoring and persecuting him because of his critical views of Islam. On his website, he warned prospective refugees to avoid Germany because of its government’s tolerance of radical Islam,” Neil said.
Christmas markets are a huge part of German culture as an annual holiday tradition, and the violence has prompted other German towns to cancel their weekend events as a precaution and out of solidarity with Magdeburg’s loss.
Berlin kept its markets open but has increased its police presence at them.
Syrian Al-Jazeera presenter returns to post-Assad Hama after 12 years in exile
- Fakhouri, a former presenter at the Syrian TV station, fled the country in 2012 after tight censorship
- He was interrogated by the State Security Department over revolution coverage
DUBAI: Syrian Al-Jazeera presenter Ahmad Fakhouri received an overwhelming welcome from crowds of hundreds of people as he returned to his hometown Hama after 12 years in exile.
In a video posted on his social media channels, Fakhouri is seen waving at huge crowds who gathered in the streets in a collective moment of celebration after the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime.
“Come to us, Fakhouri,” people cheered and chanted, inviting him to join the celebrations in the video which Fakhouri captioned: “The people of Hama. None but you are my family and my support.”
Fakhouri, a former presenter at the Syrian TV station, fled the country in 2012 after tight censorship was placed on the media during the days of the revolution.
During a 2013 interview with Al Jazeera, Fakhouri said he was not allowed to cover the protests, then later was asked to use derogatory terms, such as “terrorists, infiltrators, and enemies of the homeland,” to describe the demonstrators.
“I was naive enough to ask Bouthaina Shaaban (media advisor to the Syrian Presidency) during high-level meetings to allow us to conduct interviews with the opposition, thinking that Syrian television belonged to the people and not to a specific faction,” Fakhouri had told Al Jazeera at the time.
He also reported being under constant surveillance from security and intelligence officers as a presenter.
Rejecting the regime’s policies that insisted on denying the protests, Fakhouri said he refrained from presenting live news, limiting his work to the weekly news bulletin. When he first decided to leave Syria, he discovered he was banned from travelling.
Shortly afterwards, he was summoned for an interrogation at the State Security Department, facing charges of inciting sectarian divisions and cooperating with foreign entities to disrupt public security. He was also accused of receiving money from his expatriate brother “to fund armed terrorists.”
He reported being blindfolded, and hearing “sounds of torture” and insults directed at detainees across from his interrogation room.
When he was released at the request of the media minister, Fakhouri decided to head to Aleppo where he hid for several months before the Free Syrian Army facilitated his escape.
“I do not need to mention why I decided to leave the regime's grip as everyone is aware of Assad’s crimes against the Syrian people,” said Fakhouri, noting that several of his media colleagues were detained over extended periods, including some who were died under torture.
“I can confirm that most of those working in Syrian media are looking for an opportunity to escape like I did.”
Fakhouri begun his journey in the media at the state radio in 2004 before moving to become a presenter in the Syrian TV.
After he left Syria, he became known for hosting the “Trending” news bulletin at BBC Arabic until he joined Al Jazeera as a presenter and documentary maker in 2022.
Fakhouri was among many Syrian expats who returned to a nation where jubilation took over since Assad’s iron-fisted regime was toppled by a lightning 11-day rebel offensive spearheaded by the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham group on Dec. 8.
Since the fall of Assad’s five-decade dynastic rule, harrowing accounts of torture and executions of political prisoners, activists, and regime critics in state prisons — most notably the infamous Sednaya — have emerged publicly.
Media group urges release of detained South Sudan journalist
- Emmanuel Monychol Akop, editor-in-chief of local The Dawn newspaper, has not been seen since November 28
NAIROBI: South Sudan has detained a leading journalist, an international media organization said Friday as it urged his immediate release.
News of the apparent arrest followed a warning by the United Nations which denounced arbitrary detentions, including those of opposition party members or individuals associated with them.
Emmanuel Monychol Akop, editor-in-chief of local The Dawn newspaper, has not been seen since November 28, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
The international monitoring group said he had been detained by National Security Services (NSS) agents, citing his colleagues and an individual familiar with his case, who said he had been summoned to the organization’s headquarters in capital Juba.
“South Sudanese authorities must bring editor Emmanuel Monychol Akop before a court, present credible charges or release him unconditionally,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program.
She said the NSS had a “reputation for running roughshod over the rights of journalists,” adding that this detention “further tarnishes an already dismal press freedom record.”
Manager at The Dawn newspaper Moses Guot told the CPJ there were worries about Akop’s security.
“They should allow us to see him, at least to know about his health, and that would be a good start,” he said.
Akop was also detained in 2019 following a Facebook post criticizing a minister’s appearance during a diplomatic visit. He was held for a month before being released.
The arrest comes weeks after gunfire broke out at the home of a recently sacked intelligence chief, spooking many in the young country which since independence has grappled with insecurity.
In September South Sudan once again postponed the first elections in the nation’s history, pushing them back another two years.
South Sudan is one of the poorest countries on the planet despite large oil reserves and ranks 177 out of 180 countries on Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index.
