THE Australian government’s news blackout on the kidnapping of Sydney adventurer Warren Rodwell could further imperil his life, according to an expert.
Bob East, from the University of Southern Queensland, who has written a PhD dissertation and other research papers on the insurgencies in the southern Philippines, says the media should be free to report all aspects of the kidnapping. “If the kidnappers believe their hostage is unimportant then his chances of survival are indeed minimal,” Dr East told The Age.
“After all, if the prime reason for the kidnapping is profit, and there is no profit to be made, then there is no point in keeping their quarry,” he said.
Zamboanga Sibugay governor Rommel Jalosjos imposed a news blackout on the kidnapping last week at the request of Australian officials who travelled there to assist efforts to free Mr Rodwell, 53, who was abducted on December 5.
The decision to impose a news blackout contradicts the recommendations of a Senate inquiry last month that Australian authorities handling the kidnappings of Australians overseas should co-operate with the media, not ignore it.
Dr East said Mr Rodwell may have been kidnapped by criminals who want to be seen as members of the Abu Sayyaf terrorist organisation. He said these criminals ”take advantage of inadequate law enforcement in that part of the Philippines to pursue their agenda – terrorism for profit.”
The Philippine military says it suspects a gang linked to the Abu Sayyaf is behind Mr Rodwell’s kidnapping. They also have not ruled out gangs with links to other claimed separatist groups or local criminal gangs.
The escape at the weekend of an American teenage hostage after five months’ captivity in the same area Mr Rodwell was abducted has raised hopes for his release, if the same group is responsible. Fourteen-year-old Kevin Lunsmann, his mother, Gerfa Yeats Lunsmann, 50, and a Filipino relative, Romnick Jakaria, 19, were kidnapped in Zamboanga City in July. Kevin Lunsmann ran barefoot through the jungle for two days after telling his captors he was going for a bath in a stream.
Mrs Lunsmann and Mr Jakaria were freed earlier. It is not known if ransoms were paid.
Mr Rodwell, who married a Filipina in June after an internet romance, was kidnapped from a house he bought near the seaside town of Ipil. He was shot in the foot as he struggled with the kidnappers before being dragged away.(Lindsay Murdoch with Al Jacinto in Zamboanga City. Sydney Morning Herald / The Age)
Link:http://www.smh.com.au/national/kidnap-blackout-unwise-expert-20111211-1oprq.html
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