A PASIG City court on Thursday convicted a brother of an Abu Sayyaf chieftain for kidnapping, including students and teachers, in Sumisip, Basilan on March 20, 2000. The Pasig City Regional Trial Court Branch 261 found Hector Janjalani, brother of Abu Sayyaf leader Khadaffi Janjalani, guilty of 18 counts of kidnapping and serious illegal detention and is sentenced to reclusion perpetua or 20-40 years of imprisonment without parole. Abu Sayyaf member Daud Baru, meanwhile, was convicted of 52 counts of the same charges. They were also both ordered to pay P180,000 for damages. Abdulazan Diamla, meanwhile, was acquitted of the charges. The three were among the 66 Abu Sayyaf members convicted by Pasig court last Dec. 14 over the 2000 Basilan kidnapping incident. Twenty others were acquitted from the case. — Vann Marlo M. Villegas

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