NUJP calls for release of kidnapped Fil-Moroccan filmmakers

MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines (NUJP) chapter in Zamboanga City has called on security forces and local officials to “coordinate and move for the safe and speedy release” of the Fil-Moroccan sisters who were kidnapped on June 22.

The kidnapping “stains further the image of the Philippines as the most dangerous country for media workers to operate on,” the NUJP said in a statement on Sunday, June 23.

Sisters Nadjova and Linda Abdelbasit, both indie filmmakers, were kidnapped by members of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Barangay Liangm Patikul, Sulu, on Saturday.

Initial media reports showed they are Fil-Algerians, but the source issued a correction on Sunday, June 23. “They are Filipino-Moroccans who are Tausug. Their late father was an imam. They grew up in Zamboanga but live in Manila,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

The kidnappers, who were identified as part of the kidnap-for-ransom group’s Lucky Nine Group, fled with their victims toward Sitio Kanjimaw, through Barangay Tugas, in Patikul.

The police report on their case did not identify them as filmmakers or as visitors in Sulu.

In the statement, NUJP said the kidnapped filmmakers traveled to Sulu to take footages for an upcoming film. They previously produced the first film on the sea gypsies in Mindanao.

Nadjova took up film studies at the Ateneo de Zamboanga University and works for Amnesty International. Her film Bohe, Sons of the Waves (“bohe” is Tausug for “water”) earned her a nomination for the Gawad Urian and Cinemalaya Awards.

“We respectfully call on the Philippine national government not to allow this incident to be another demonstration of its helplessness in addressing the roots of the social conflict in Sulu. Instead let its immediate action towards the Bansil sisters’ freedom from their captors, young orphaned sons of the Abu Sayyaf Group members, be an initial manifestation of the GPH’s efforts to address the structural and cultural violence that have long been inflicted upon those in these conflict areas,” the group said in its statement. – Rappler.com