Manila // Philippine government prosecutors filed 25 murder charges yesterday against the son of a powerful southern warlord following last week's massacre in which 64 people were killed, including 30 journalists.
The charges were filed in the southern city of Cotabato against Andal Ampatuan Jr, the suspect in the November 23 massacre in Maguindanao province.
At the same time, Agnes Devanadera, the country's justice secretary, told local television that she and a number of prosecutors in the case had received death threats. Mrs Devanadera said she had requested the Supreme Court to move the case to Manila from Cotabato City to protect witnesses. The city's mayor, Alfredo Lim, said he would fight such a move, however, citing security as his main concern.
The charges came one week after 100 heavily armed men massacred members of a convoy led by relatives of a local politician, Ismaeil Mangudadatu, as they made their way to the provincial capital of Shariff Aguak to file his papers for next year's elections in which he is running for governor of Maguindanao.
The Mangudadatus are the known political rivals of the Ampatuan clan, who are allied with Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the president, and have governed the province for a decade.
Some unsuspecting motorists who were caught up in the convoy were also killed. Most of the dead were buried on a grassy hillside just a few kilometres off the main road.
One of the problems facing prosecutors will be securing solid evidence against Mr Ampatuan, whose family has hired a team of 20-plus lawyers.
Most of the details coming out in the local media regarding the killings are based on a phone call from Mr Mangudadatu's wife, but as yet the mobile phone from which she made her last call has not been produced. Police said none of the victims had phones, which is unusual in a country where almost everyone has a mobile phone.
Mr Mangudadatu had earlier claimed that he had a recorder that was retrieved by investigators from the crime scene. He said he had intentionally asked his wife to conceal the device inside her sock so that anything that might happen to them during the trip could be caught on tape. But the tape has not surfaced as yet.
Mrs Devanadera said her office has not yet received any piece of evidence connected to an audio tape.
A number of the people who are alleged to have taken part in the killings have turned state's evidence to escape prosecution.
The chief inspector Sukarno Adil Dicay, the head of the Ampatuan police, and the inspector Ariel Diongon - both of whom have been suspended - said they were manning a checkpoint on the day of the killings. They told investigators that a group of about 100 armed men appeared and led the convoy away. Before leaving, men pointed guns at Mr Dicay and his subordinates and threatened to kill them if they intervened.
The main issue now is security for witnesses, securing a safe location for the trial and obtaining firm evidence.
Mrs Devanadera said she had written about the case and expressed her concerns to the Supreme Court justice Reynato Puno.
"We don't see the hearings happening there in Cotabato City because the witnesses are reluctant to go to court there, fearing for their and their families' lives," she said.
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What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
If you go
The Flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Johannesburg from Dubai and Abu Dhabi respectively. Economy return tickets cost from Dh2,650, including taxes.
The trip
Worldwide Motorhoming Holidays (worldwidemotorhomingholidays.co.uk) operates fly-drive motorhome holidays in eight destinations, including South Africa. Its 14-day Kruger and the Battlefields itinerary starts from Dh17,500, including campgrounds, excursions, unit hire and flights. Bobo Campers has a range of RVs for hire, including the 4-berth Discoverer 4 from Dh600 per day.
Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
- Helen Keller
- Joan of Arc
How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
A State of Passion
Directors: Carol Mansour and Muna Khalidi
Stars: Dr Ghassan Abu-Sittah
Rating: 4/5
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre, 4-cylinder turbo
Transmission: CVT
Power: 170bhp
Torque: 220Nm
Price: Dh98,900
Jewel of the Expo 2020
252 projectors installed on Al Wasl dome
13.6km of steel used in the structure that makes it equal in length to 16 Burj Khalifas
550 tonnes of moulded steel were raised last year to cap the dome
724,000 cubic metres is the space it encloses
Stands taller than the leaning tower of Pisa
Steel trellis dome is one of the largest single structures on site
The size of 16 tennis courts and weighs as much as 500 elephants
Al Wasl means connection in Arabic
World’s largest 360-degree projection surface