PHL seeks clemency for 9 Filipinos sentenced to death for 2013 Lahad Datu assault


The Philippine government will seek clemency for nine Filipinos sentenced to death for their involvement in a bloody attempt to seize Sabah from Malaysia in 2013.
Malaysia's highest court affirmed the decision of an appeals court convicting the Filipinos of the crime of waging war against the Malaysian King during an assault on Lahad Datu in Sabah.
"The embassy legal team is now initiating the appeal for clemency to the King," a Department of Foreign Affairs statement said.
In February 2013, followers of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III deployed about 200 of his men, some of them armed, to Malaysian-controlled Sabah to press the royal clan's historical claim on the resource-rich territory, sparking weeks of deadly clashes with Malaysian forces.
The violence in Lahad Datu threatened to strain Manila's warming ties with Malaysia - the broker of the country's peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, as calls for the government to revive a long-shelved claim to Sabah emerged.
Malaysia launched armed offensives against the Filipinos to quell what they call an intrusion of Sabah, where it has exercised control for decades.
Dozens of Kiram's men and eight Malaysian security forced died in the armed confrontations.
All of the accused, the DFA said, have been assisted and represented by Datuk N. Sivanathan, an International Criminal Court-certified lawyer whose services were arranged by the Philippine Embassy in Kuala Lumpur and paid for by the Philippine government through the use of the Legal Assistance Fund administered by the department.
The DFA said the Philippine government has extended legal and other forms of assistance to all the defendants from the trial stage of their case up to the appeal, adding it will continue to extend assistance to them as their case progresses. —ALG, GMA News

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