Philippine court convicts motorcycle bomber in congressman’s death
Ikram Indama, who has links to Muslim militants, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole
A Philippine court has convicted a man for a daring 2007 motorcycle bombing that killed a Muslim congressman, who was once a rebel leader, and three other people and wounded 10, including two legislators.
Judge Ralph Lee of the Regional Trial Court Branch 83 on Friday convicted Ikram Indama but acquitted two other key suspects in the November 13, 2007 bombing that killed Wahab Akbar as he walked out of a lobby at the House of Representatives.
Indama, who has links to Muslim militants, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to a copy of Lee’s decision.
Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Ong said Indama, a cousin of a notorious Abu Sayyaf extremist commander in the country’s south, was seen on CCTV footage with the motorcycle that had been fitted with a bomb.
Ong said the attackers had plotted to kill Akbar the previous day, but he was absent from the lower house.
Akbar was reportedly among the original leaders of the Abu Sayyaf extremist group when it was established in the late 1980s on the southern island of Basilan. He later had a falling out with the militants, was elected Basilan governor and supported US-backed offensives in his province against the militants, who are notorious for bombings, kidnappings and beheadings.