ShareThisAbu Sayyaf leader pleads guilty to taking 4 American hostages
MANILA/WASHINGTON —
July 30, 2010
Filipino terrorist Madhatta Haipe, the high-profile founding member of the dreaded Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG),
pleaded guilty on July 28 (Washington time) to four counts of hostagetaking in the 1995 abduction of 16 persons, including four U.S. citizens, in southern Mindanao. The U.S. Department of Justice, led by Assistant Attorney General David Kris, announced this development, even as in Manila, U.S. Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr. commended U.S. and Philippine authorities “whose close and relentless collabo-ration brought about Haipe’s extradition and admission of guilt.”
In information from the U.S. embassy, the ASG operative “faces up to life in prison on each of the four counts to which he pleaded guilty. As part of the plea agreement, the (U.S.) government may advocate for a sentence of up to 25 years in prison.” In August 2009, Haipe was extradited from the Philippines to face the charges against him, and was indicted for the crime by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. in November 2000.