The move by the Arroyo administration to turn over US Marine Lance Corporal Daniel Smith, who has been convicted of raping “Nicole,” to the custody of the US embassy has the makings of another Meiring, according to the human-rights group Karapatan, referring to Michael Terrence Meiring, an alleged CIA agent who blew himself up inside a Davao City hotel in May 2003. Meiring was accused of hoarding explosives in his hotel room, which were to be used, allegedly, for terrorist attacks in Mindanao. But agents from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation spirited Meiring from the hospital, prompting outcries from leftist groups and local officials, among them Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, who called the move an affront to Filipino sovereignty.
(Read MindaNews editor Carol Arguillas’s reports on the Meiring case here. Read here the leftist group’s allegation that Meiring was out to sow terror in Mindanao. Read this report in Khou.com, a news company based in Houston, Texas, about Meiring’s background.)
In any case, the Counsels for the Defense of Liberties, a group of lawyers, said Smith’s transfer was an “absolute disregard for the judiciary, the Supreme Court and the Constitution.” Gabriela, the women’s group that has been supporting “Nicole,” called it a “treachery.”
[tags]Nicole rape case, Daniel Smith, US military, visiting forces agreement, philippine-american relations, meiring, davao, rodrigo duterte[/tags]
Gender Issues
