No more illegal assembly charges against freed Filipinos in Qatar
MANILA, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Monday, April 7, that 17 Filipinos who were detained then later freed after joining a pro-Rodrigo Duterte rally in Qatar will no longer be charged with illegal assembly.
Marcos made the announcement after meeting with Qatari Ambassador to the Philippines Ahmed Saad Nasser Abdullah Al-Homidi in Malacañang on Monday.
“Wala na silang magiging parusa at makakabalik na sila sa trabaho,” the President said on his Facebook page. (They will not face punishment and they can return to work.)
Presidential Communications Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro told reporters in a briefing that Marcos himself focused on securing the release of the Filipinos.
Last Thursday, April 3, Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Cacdac had announced the provisional release of the 17 Filipinos — 12 males and five females — pending Qatar’s probe into their unauthorized political gathering.
Three other Filipinos, who were minors, had been freed earlier.
The group gathered in Qatar on March 28, joining other Duterte supporters in the Philippines and abroad in holding simultaneous prayer rallies for the former president on his 80th birthday.
Duterte has been detained at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, since his arrest on March 11. He is accused of crimes against humanity over the bloody drug war during his presidency. – Rappler.com