, Johannesburg | day 10.00am.
MUSLIM rebels holding Malaysian and Western hostages on the island of Jolo could release the Malaysians within the next week, although they seem to want to hang on to the other captives.
Prison authorities have confirmed that they are holding an elderly Filipino — possibly the same man whom Filipino kidnappers want freed in exchange for their eight Malaysian hostages.
The Abu Sayyaf Muslim rebel group are holding the Malaysians and 12 foreign tourists, including South Africans Kallie and Monique Strydom, on Jolo island in the southern Philippines. On Monday they demanded the release of an elderly Filipino from a Malaysian jail in exchange for the Malaysians.
The taped message containing the demand was delivered by a Malaysian humanitarian mission which visited the gunmen’s jungle camp.
The message identified the inmate as Mohamad Akram, an 85 year-old Muslim said to be jailed in Kota Kinabalu, the capital of Sabah state on Borneo island. No other details about him are known. A local translator said the message in the Tausug dialect suggested a prisoner swap.
Akram is serving a life sentence for a drug offence.
Last week the kidnappers freed the first of their captives, Malaysian forest ranger Zulkarnain Hashim.
In Jolo a source close to the negotiations said on Tuesday that the Malaysians may be released within two weeks. –AFP