4 Freed Hostages Reach Libya; Captors Are Accused of Rape

Four European hostages freed by rebels in the Philippines reached the Libyan capital Monday, with one saying they were powerless to prevent their captors from raping some of the female hostages.

Risto Vahanen, a Finn who was among 21 captives held for as many as 140 days in the Philippine jungle, told Finnish MTV3 that other hostages couldn’t do anything to help the women being abused by the rebels.

“Some, a few, women there were treated in an inappropriate manner,” Vahanen said, and answered “yes” when asked if they had been raped.

He said the rape victims did not want their names disclosed but wanted the attacks to be made public. “They were of the opinion that it had to be made public, without names, so that the world would know what Robot had done,” Vahanen said, referring to rebel leader Ghalib “Robot” Andang.

“It was quite surprising because otherwise we were treated in a proper way,” he said in an interview before leaving the Philippines.

The four former hostages’ arrival in Tripoli, which followed their release Saturday, came amid fears that Libyan payments to the guerrillas would only encourage more hostage-taking.

Libya reportedly paid $1 million each to secure freedom for the German, Frenchman and two Finns, including Vahanen, who left the Philippines on Monday after being held for months by the Abu Sayyaf, the smaller of two rebel groups fighting for an independent Muslim state in the southern Philippines.

A day after the four hostages were released Saturday, three men, all Malaysians, were abducted near the site where Abu Sayyaf rebels had kidnapped 21 people, including the four Europeans, on April 23.

One Philippine resort worker, a member of the group seized in April, remains in captivity. Two French television journalists, captured when they visited the rebels’ camp, are still being held by the Abu Sayyaf. The guerrillas also are holding 12 Philippine Christian evangelists and a 24-year-old American, Jeffrey Schilling.

Libyan officials have denied ransom was paid, saying they instead secured the rebels’ confidence by funding development projects in the southern Philippines. But negotiators said Libya paid $1 million ransom for each of 10 of the released hostages.