Published on July 16, 2005

The wives of two Thai Muslims imprisoned in Phnom Penh on terrorism charges have urged the Cambodian authorities to release their husbands as they have no solid evidence to link them with terrorist groups.

Falida Madeng and A-esoh Haji Chiming, who visited the pair on Thursday, said the men had done nothing wrong during their time in Cambodia as religious teachers.

Muhammad Yalaluding and Abdul Azi Haji Chiming, both from Yala province, received life sentences in December on charges of helping regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) plot a terrorist attack in Cambodia.

They were arrested in May 2003 along with Egyptian Esam Mohammed Khidr Ali, who was acquitted of the same charge due to lack of evidence.

The two Muslims are at a detention centre in Phnom Penh and have appealed against the verdict. The wives said the two were in good health and were not physically or mentally harmed. The Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh has provided them with assistance, they said.

A-esoh Haji Chiming, who was in Cambodia with her husband for four years before the arrest, said the men had done nothing to jeopardise Cambodian security.

“We went to Cambodia to seek good pay for religious teaching at a Saudi-sponsored school, and we know nothing about terrorists,” she said.

The women said they were now in financial trouble because they no longer had their husbands’ salaries. They have nine children to feed between them. They said they had been allowed to visit their husbands only twice since their arrest two years ago.

The men were arrested after Singaporean JI operative Arifin bin Ali, who was arrested in Bangkok in May 2003, alleged that they were members of the terror group and had helped plan an attack. The same allegation from Arifin led to the arrest of four Thai Muslims in Thailand, including well-known physician Waemahadi Wae-dao, who were later acquitted of charges of plotting attacks on Bangkok embassies.

Senator Kraisak Choonhavan, chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, said he had sent an appeal to the Cambodian king calling for amnesty on the grounds that Arifin’s testimony was unreliable.

Supalak Ganjanakhundee

The Nation

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