Freed Finn Says Rebels Raped Female Hostages

Sept. 11 -- One of the four European hostages freed over the weekend by Philippine guerrillas said some of the female hostages released earlier had been raped by the rebels, Finnish television reported today.

“They [the women] thought that it must be published, butnot with names, so that the world would know,” Finn RistoVahanen told MTV3 television’s news program prior to leavingthe Philippines for Libya after his release Saturday.

He said the raped women “ were of the opinion that it had to be made public, without names, so that the world would know what Robot had done.”

Vahanen was referring to Abu Sayyaf rebel leader Ghalib “Robot” Andang.

“That was the worst that happened there. It was quitesurprising because otherwise we were treated quite well,”Vahanen said.

He said the male hostages in the group on Jolo island hadbeen unable to defend the women.

“Everybody knew that if we started to act aggressively theresponse would have been even harder,” Vahanen said.

Hostage Used as Human Shield

The other Finn who was released Saturday, Seppo Franti,said that one guerrilla leader had used him as a human shieldduring an exchange of gunfire.

Vahanen and Franti were among 21 people kidnapped by Muslimrebels from a resort on the Malaysian island of Sipadan onApril 23 and taken to the southern Philippines island of Jolo.All but one, a Philippine resort worker, have been freed.

The Abu Sayyaf rebels handed over the Finns to governmentemissaries Saturday along with German Marc Wallert andFrenchman Stephane Loisy. The four arrived in Tripoli today.

Libya reportedly paid $1 million each to secure freedom for the four Europeans.

The last five freed women hostages were flown to Tripoli onAug. 28 with one male hostage.

Abu Sayyaf is the smaller of two rebel groups fighting for an independent Muslim state in the southern part of the country.

Payoffs Encourage Kidnappings?