Philippine woman held for five years without charge

The Philippine justice secretary today demanded an investigation after a woman was detained in a police prison for more than five years without charge, in a case likened to the plight of terror suspects languishing in Guantanamo Bay.
Joanne Urbina was arrested along with a male suspect after police found 150 grammes of banned stimulants and marijuana at her Manila home on December 14, 2007, court records show.
The justice department decided not to press charges against the man, who was later freed, but also failed to charge Urbina, who was 25 at the time of her arrest and was only released on June 11 this year.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, who supervises the country's prison system, said she only learnt of the case when Urbina was freed.
She ordered an investigation to determine if any official was criminally liable for the "inordinate and inexcusable delay in resolving the automatic review of the Urbina case".
"It's indeed an unfortunate and deplorable case of violation of the constitutional and human rights of the respondent," de Lima told reporters.

A ruling by the court of appeal drew comparisons with the US military jail Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, which holds "indefinite detainees", terror suspects considered too dangerous to transfer from prison who cannot be tried in court.

"More than five years of detention, without valid information filed in court, is unreasonable; it is intolerable; it is shockingly unimaginable. It smacks of persecution rather than prosecution," the court ruling read.
"It conjures up images of Guantanamo Bay detainees who have never been allowed a speedy and fair trial, a civil right granted to all by the constitution.