Philippine leader orders 43 suspected rebels freed
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Philippine President Benigno Aquino III has ordered prosecutors to drop criminal charges against 43 health workers arrested by the army as suspected communist rebels.
The detainees were arrrested in February while attending a medical workshop east of Manila. They have claimed that the army planted weapons and bomb-making materials as evidence against them. They also allege the army subjected them to prolonged interrogation, denied their right to counsel and held them incommunicado at a military camp. (AP)
