Twenty-four years after the Sipadan Island Raid by Abu Sayyaf Militants, where 21 Western citizens and Asian workers were kidnapped from a dive resort in Malaysia, 17 terrorists involved in the attack have finally been convicted and sentenced to life.
Sipadan Island Raid by Abu Sayyaf Militants
In April 2000, Abu Sayyaf militants armed with assault rifles and machetes, travelled by speedboats from their southern Philippine jungle strongholds and raided the Sipadan Island dive resort in neighbouring Malaysia, where they abducted 21 Western tourists and resort workers at gunpoint.
The hostages included a German family of three, two Finnish tourists, a South African couple, a Lebanese woman, and two French nationals. The remaining captives were Malaysians and Filipinos employed at the remote resort.
The hostages were taken by speedboats to the jungles of Sulu province in the southern Philippines, where they endured harsh conditions. Two Associated Press journalists who interviewed the captives in the jungle saw most of them sitting on banana leaves behind a fence of tree branches, desperately writing letters and pleading with their families and embassies for food, water, medicine, and rescue.
The hostages taken by Abu Sayyaf militants were released in stages over several months. Most of them were freed after ransom payments, reportedly facilitated by intermediaries and financed largely through millions of dollars provided by then-Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. The negotiations for their release were conducted by various parties, including Libyan diplomats, and the final hostages were freed by September 2000.
While the exact details of each ransom amount were not officially confirmed, the role of Libya in securing their freedom was widely reported at the time. The Philippine government never officially acknowledged the ransom payments.
Killing and Capture of Abu Sayyaf Militants by the Philippine Military
Following the release of the hostages, the Philippine military launched a series of offensives over several years, resulting in the deaths or capture of many Abu Sayyaf leaders and fighters.
Ghalib Andang, the mastermind behind the kidnapping, was killed in 2005 during a failed jailbreak and siege at a high-security detention facility in Manila, when police commandos intervened.
Abu Sayyaf Militants Sentenced to Life
Seventeen of the members of the brutal Islamic terrorist organization that were captured by the Philippine military were finally convicted in the Regional Trial Court in Taguig City in October 2024. They were sentenced to life imprisonment, with the possibility of parole after 30 years. Among those convicted were two Abu Sayyaf leaders, Hilarion Santos and Redendo Dellosa, both of whom had been listed on a United Nations terrorism blacklist.