MANILA: The family of two Philippine Muslim women film- makers allegedly kidnapped by extremists in the country’s south have made a heartfelt video plea on YouTube for their release.
Nadjoua Bansil, 39, and younger sister Linda, 36, were abducted on the island of Jolo on June 22 while working on a movie about its impoverished residents, officials and their friends said.
“We implore your help, as fellow Muslims, to release them. They are not your enemies,” the victims’ brother Mohammed Bansil said in the YouTube clip, which was uploaded on Friday.
“Have pity on our sisters. They are women. You must have taken them to the mountains and we are worried that they may be going hungry and unable to observe proper hygiene,” he added, as pictures of the two women were shown. Mohammed said yesterday that they uploaded the three-minute video in the hope of establishing contact with the kidnappers. “We are at the stage of initiating negotiations,” he said.
“It’s very difficult. There are a lot of people that we have to go through. They (the kidnappers) have not initiated any contact with us.” He said the family did not know which group was holding the sisters, though military and police authorities in Jolo have blamed Abu Sayyaf.
The YouTube video, in which Mohammed speaks calmly alongside his brother Zackaria, identifies the victims as children of a deceased Shariah court judge, and ends with the two brothers reciting a prayer. Zackaria said he hoped the kidnappers would free his sisters before Ramadan.
AFP
