Jailed Philippine human rights campaigner and former senator Leila de Lima was yesterday briefly taken hostage during an attempted breakout by three detained militants who were shot dead by police, authorities said.
The incident happened at the Philippine National Police headquarters in Quezon City, where De Lima has been held for more than five years with other high-profile detainees.
A police officer handing out breakfast was stabbed with a fork by an inmate, who then freed two other inmates from their cells.
Photo: AFP / Office of Senator Risa Hontiveros
Two of the prisoners were shot dead by a sniper, Philippine Secretary of the Interior and Local Government Benjamin Abalos Jr told reporters.
The third prisoner ran to De Lima’s cell, where he tied up and blindfolded the 63-year-old, before a police officer shot him in the head, Abalos said.
Police said De Lima was safe and the situation inside the detention facility had “returned to normal,” adding that an investigation was initiated.
Philippine National Police Chief General Rodolfo Azurin said the three inmates were members of the militant group Abu Sayyaf, which has been accused of kidnapping and beheading several foreigners.
De Lima did not appear to have been the target, Azurin told local radio station DZBB.
“They saw her as an ideal cover. Their intention really was to escape,” he said.
De Lima was unhurt, her lawyer, Boni Tacardon, said.
“She was brought to the hospital for the standard medical checkup,” Tacardon said. “But based on the information given to us by our staff who’s with the senator now, she appears OK.”
De Lima, an outspoken critic of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte and his deadly drug war, is due to appear in court today.
She has been jailed since 2017 on drug trafficking charges that she and human rights groups have called a mockery of justice and payback for going after Duterte.
Since Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr took power in June, there have been renewed calls from diplomats and rights defenders for De Lima’s release.
The latest incident underscored the need for her to be “freed immediately,” Human Rights Watch senior researcher Carlos Conde said.
Marcos wrote on Twitter that he would speak to De Lima “to check on her condition and to ask if she wishes to be transferred to another detention center,” but Tacardon said she did not want to be transferred.
For now, she and her defense team were considering their options, including the hospital inside the national police headquarters.
Before her arrest on Feb. 24, 2017, De Lima had spent a decade investigating “death squad” killings allegedly orchestrated by Duterte during his time as Davao City mayor and in the early days of his presidency.
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