Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes with deep concern regarding the continued detention of another man whom soldiers illegally arrested and tortured in custody in the place of the real accused. The soldiers, who have no police power to implement an arrest took him into custody supposedly for a bomb blast in October 2006.
CASE DETAILS: (Based on documentation by the Task Force Detainees of the Philippines (TFDP-Mindanao)
On September 22, 2011, at 4pm Daud Ali Manampan Rahim, a tricycle driver, was at the highway in Barangay (village) Batulawan, in Pikit, North Cotabato, waiting for passengers when soldiers attached to the 7th Infantry Battalion of Philippine Army, under the 602nd Brigade, took him into custody. A man alighted from a vehicle in camouflage uniform and armed with an Armalite rifle. He was followed by another two persons who were armed with handguns and wearing plain clothes.
(on top: Daud Ali Manampan Rahim (center) interviewed at the police station/photo by Mindanao Human Rights Action Center (MinHRAC).
They told Rahim that if he did not want to get hurt, he should come with them as he had some explaining to do at their military battalion in Carmen, North Cotabatoto. He was blindfolded and his hands were tied with a plastic wire. While travelling, they interrogated him, forcing him to admit that he was one Sarip Milo, a rebel commander and one of the accused to be arrested for an October 2006 bomb blast.
When Rahim told them that he was not Sarip Milo and identified himself the soldiers forced him to admit that he was indeed Sarip Milo. As they travel, Rahim sensed that he had been transferred to another vehicle. He estimated the journey took about an hour before they reached their destination. Here, he was taken inside a room where he was again interrogated forcing him to admit that he was Sarip Milo. He sensed that there were five persons involved in interrogating him.
Rahim was later transferred to another room. Here, Rahim was electrocuted on his stomach, feet, his hands and genitals several times. They also wrapped his head using a plastic bag. When he lost consciousness twice, the soldiers poured hot water on him to wake him up.
In torturing him, his interrogators would alternately electrocute him and then suffocate him with the plastic bag. Apart from forcing him to admit that he was Sarip Milo, they also forced him to admit his membership with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). They made him stand for almost an hour after pulling his short pants down to his thighs, tied both his feet with his own belt and his hands raised upwards.
On one occasion, they removed his blindfold but instructed him to keep his eyes closed as they took photographs of him. They threatened him that “if he (Rahim) will open his eyes his life would end”. He recalled having transferred three times to other rooms. It was only in the early morning of September 23, 2011 that they stopped torturing him. All night he was not given food to eat and water to drink. They only made him smell a cup of coffee.
On that morning, when the soldiers took him to a hospital in Pikit, North Cotabato, they did give him a glass of water to drink but no food. His blindfold was also removed before they reached the hospital.
At the hospital, a certain Dr. Crusado checked his condition. When the doctor asked if he had been punched, he said no. His response though is typical of torture victims who are in custody of their torturers for fear of reprisal. Here, the doctor then did not conduct any check-up on him, nor even his blood pressure. He was later turned over to the custody of the Municipal Police Station of Pikit, North Cotabato.
At 11am that day, the police took records of him before taking him to the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Kidapawan City. At 4pm, he was remanded to North Cotabato District jail in Amas, Kidapawan City where he is presently detained. Rahim said that when the soldiers took custody of him, none of them showed to him warrant of arrest with his real name written on it, informed him of the charges against him and explain to him the reason for his arrest.
Rahim, however, will have to be prosecuted for criminal charges in the place of the real accused, Sarip Milo. The real Milo, who remains at large, is being charged for Multiple Murder with Multiple Frustrated Murders in connection with the bomb blast in October 2006 at the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 17 of Kidapawan City.
When Rahim was interviewed in jail, he complained of numbness to his left hand, pain in his heart every night and blurring eye sight.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the concerned authorities below requesting for their immediate intervention in this case.
The AHRC has also written letters to the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention for their intervention in this case.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear_______,
PHILIPPINES: Another torture and detention of a man in place of the real accuse
Name of victim: Daud Ali Manampan Rahim (42), tricycle driver, resident of Barangay (village) Batulawan, Pikit, North Cotabato
Alleged perpetrators: Soldiers attached to the 7th Infantry Battalion of Philippine Army, under the 602nd Brigade based in Carmen, North Cotabato
Date of incident: At 4pm on 22 September 2011
Place of incident: Barangay Batulawan, Pikit, North Cotabato
Status of his case: He is presently detained at the North Cotabato Provincial Jail in Amas, Kidapawan City. He will have to be prosecuted for criminal charges of Sarip Milo, another person who is at large and charged for the bomb blast in October 2006.
I am writing with deep concern at the continued detention of this torture victim, Daud Ali Manampan Rahim, whom the soldiers, whose unit is mentioned above, illegally arrested and tortured when they took custody of him on September 22, 2011.
In custody Rahim was tortured to force him to admit that he was Sarip Milo, a rebel commander and one of the accused to be arrested for October 2006 bomb blast. They, however, neither showed to him any court orders for his arrest under his name, nor did they explain to him the reason why they were arresting him and, despite him insisting on them he is not Sarip Milo, they continued to torture him.
In Rahim’s recollection of the event, on the matter of distance from where he was taken from and where he was kept in custody, he was presumably inside the headquarters of the military in Carmen, North Cotabato. Here, he was electrocuted in his stomach, feet, his hands and genitals for several times. They also wrapped his head using a plastic bag. When he lost consciousness twice, the soldiers poured hot water on him to wake him up.
In torturing him, his interrogators whom he sensed about five of them, would alternately electrocute him and then suffocate him with the plastic bag. Apart from forcing him to admit he was Sarip Milo, they also forced him to admit his membership with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). They make him stand for almost an hour after pulling his short pants down to his thighs, tying both feet with his own belt and his hands raised upwards.
On one occasion, they removed his blindfold but instructed him to keep his eyes closed as they took photographs of him. They threatened him that “if he (Rahim) will open his eyes his life would end”. He recalled having transferred three times to other rooms. It was only in the early morning of September 23, 2011 that they stopped torturing him. All night he was not given food to eat and water to drink. They only made him smell a cup of coffee.
The soldiers did take him to a hospital on September 23, 2011 before turning him over to the custody of the Municipal Police Station of Pikit, North Cotabato. However, the doctor, a certain Dr. Crusado, who examined him, did not thoroughly check his medical condition as what should have been required under the Anti-Torture Act of 2009. The doctor did not even check his blood pressure, which was a very elementary and routine part in obtaining medical information from a person to be examined.
Dr. Crusado did ask the victim, presumably noticing the torture marks in him, a general question if, “he had been punched”, but when the victim told him that he was not, he did not bother inquiring about whether the victim was in reality telling the truth, or, whether the victim, considering that he was still in the custody of the soldiers who tortured him, was in a position to disclose his ordeal of torture without fear and in sound mind.
This shows another example, either due to the lack of competence or ignorance by doctors in dealing with torture victims. It is common for torture victims to deny their ordeal of torture when they are still in the custody of their torturers, as in this case. I urge you to look into this incompetence and failure of the doctor involved. The conduct of examination on victims of torture is very critical at early stage.
Also, I urge you to request the Department of Justice (DoJ), who has jurisdiction on deciding whether or not Rahim would remain in detention, to thoroughly review his case. Rahim must be released from detention without further delay. Rahim’s continued detention and supposed prosecution in place of the real accused, Sarip Milo, is an outright violation of his Constitutional right to liberty. By ignoring his claims that he is not the real accuse, he has been effectively deprived of any sort of remedies.
I urge you to ensure that the victim’s allegation of illegal arrest, detention and torture is investigated thoroughly and that it must be concluded promptly. The urgency and promptness in identifying the real identities of the soldiers involved and their superiors is a matter of utmost importance.
Yours sincerely,
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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Mr. Benigno Aquino III
President
Republic of the Philippines
Malacanang Palace
JP Laurel Street, San Miguel
Manila 1005
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2 736 1010
Tel: +63 2 735 6201 / 564 1451 to 80
2. Ms. Loretta Ann Rosales
Commission on Human Rights
SAAC Bldg., Commonwealth Avenue
U.P. Complex, Diliman
Quezon City
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2 929 0102
Tel: +63 2 928 5655 / 926 6188
E-mail: chair.rosales.chr@gmail.com
3. Director General Nicanor Bartolome
Chief, Philippine National Police (PNP)
Camp General Rafael Crame
Quezon City
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2724 8763
Tel: +63 2 726 4361/4366/8763
E-mail: ruth_cossid@yahoo.com
4. Ms. Leila de Lima
Secretary
Department of Justice (DOJ)
DOJ Bldg., Padre Faura
1004 Manila
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2 521 1614
E-mail: soj@doj.gov.ph
5. Mr. Emilio Gonzalez
Deputy Ombudsman
Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for the Military
and Other Law Enforcement Offices
3rd Floor, Ombudsman Bldg., Agham Road, Diliman
1104 Quezon City
PHILIPPINES
Fax: +63 2 926 8747
Tel: +63 2 926 9032
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) (ua@ahrc.asia)
