ISM News Releases

News Release from BAYAN MUNA: ISM findings affirmed: Buyung-Buyong Isnijal confirms it was an American soldier who shot him last July 26[September 13, 2002]

Organizers of the International Solidarity Mission (ISM) and the Bayan Muna political party today made public the affidavit they recently obtained from Buyung-Buyong Isnijal, the 31-year old civilian from Basilan whom an American soldier shot in a military operation in coordination with the Armed Forces of the Philippines' (AFP) Southern Command last July 25. The SouthCom alleges that Isnijal is a member of the Abu Sayyaf bandit group, and that it was a Filipino soldier who shot him.

The ISM exposed the illegal participation of US troops during the six-day duration of the fact-finding mission (July 24-31) in Basilan, Zamboanga, and General Santos City where US troops participated in the Balikatan exercises. The ISM was able to obtain the affidavit when it sent a humanitarian delegation to the Basilan provincial jail in Isabela, Basilan where Isnijal is currently detained. Isnijal is a resident of Brgy. Canas, Tuburan, Basilan. [More]

Previous ISM News Releases are published in the ISM Book Annex F[More]

Statement of B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines - August 3, 2002

Human Rights Advocates in Canada Appalled at Recent Shooting of Local Filipino by U.S. Soldier

For immediate release

As an organization advocating for human rights in the Philippines for over twenty years, the B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (BCCHRP) strongly condemns the brutal and needless shooting of an unarmed man by American soldier Reggie Lane on July 25, 2002 in Barangay Kanas, Tuburan, Basilan, Philippines. [More]