MALAYSIA has yet to complete its investigation on the son of two prominent Muslim leaders now detained in Kuala Lumpur in connection with the Sept. 2 Davao City night market bombing, according to Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr.
Mohammad Abduljabbar Sema, 26, has been in Malaysian custody since his arrest on Nov. 24, 2016.
Yasay said the Philippine government continued to monitor his case to make sure Sema’s rights were not violated while in Malaysian custody.
“When Malaysia will make a representation to the Philippines to surrender him after they complete their investigation in this regard, we will be very happy to receive him and for him to face whatever charges he may be facing when he is here,” Yasay told reporters in a briefing on Thursday.
Sema is the son of Muslimen Sema, the chairman of the largest faction in the Moro National Liberation Front and a former Cotabato mayor. His wife is incumbent Maguindanao Rep. Bai Sandra Sema.
Last month President Rodrigo Duterte confirmed VERA Files’ report on the arrest in Kuala Lumpur of the young Sema but did not give derails. VERA Files sources said the arrest was based on a request from the Philippine National Intelligence Coordinating Council.
“I have not received any reports particularly that his rights have been violated, and I know the parents and they have not come up with any complaint on this matter,” Yasay said.
“I would imagine that he is being treated properly by the Malaysian authorities.”
Sema was arrested at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport as he arrived from Bangkok after traveling in and out of Thailand and Cambodia. When his 30-day visa-free entry was about to expire he decided to go to Malaysia, intending to return to Thailand after three days.
Security officials in the Philippines have tagged Sema in the bombing that killed 15 people and wounded 69 others. They are looking into reports that he allegedly provided the logistics to the Maute group, an alleged terrorist organization operating in Lanao del Sur.
Sema’s brother Omar Yasser Sema was recently named a member of the expanded Bangsamoro Transition Commission that will draft the new Bangsamoro enabling law that will create the new Bangsamoro region to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
ARMM was part of the peace agreement between the government and the MNLF in 1996 while the BBL is part of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro signed in 2014 between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a breakaway group of the MNLF.
(VERA Files is put out by veteran journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. Vera is Latin for “true.”)