US refuses to surrender soldiers accused of rape: Philippine official 17/1/2006 http://english.eastday.com/eastday/englishedition/world/userobject1ai1797562.html
The US embassy in Manila refused to surrender the custody of four US marines accused of raping a Filipino woman, Philippine Department of Justice said on Tuesday. Local radio DZMM quoted Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez as saying that the US embassy invoked a provision in the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the two nations to keep its own custody of the four accused soldiers. "What I know is that the DFA (department of foreign affairs) told me yesterday that the US Embassy has already answered our letter sent last November 1 requesting custody of the Americans. The US Embassy said it will not surrender the four," Gonzalez told DZMM. However, Gonzalez said the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) would still serve the warrants of arrest on the US suspects anytime Tuesday. The Olongapo Regional Trial Court issued warrants last Friday morning for the arrest of the four US soldiers. The judge said the warrants are based on evidence submitted by the prosecutors implicating the four marines in the rape case. The VFA allows the entry of US soldiers and their equipment into the Philippines for joint US and Philippine military exercises. Under the VFA, the US suspects may be held for trial in the Philippines only for one year. The Philippines maintains jurisdiction over US servicemen who violate Philippine laws, but they shall be in the custody by American authorities unless the Philippine government requests a turnover. http://english.eastday.com/eastday/englishedition/world/userobject1ai1797562.html ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/TXWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> *************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest". Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/islamcity/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
