DOHA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Qatar – Filipino Muslim leaders invited by Libya to the 5th General Conference of the World Islamic People's Leadership (WIPL) Tuesday strongly appealed to the kidnappers of Irish priest Fr. Michael Sinnott to immediately free him unharmed and without ransom.

The Muslim leaders said the kidnappers, led by a certain "Abu Jandal", should not wait for the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front to stage a rescue attempt because it will only endanger the life of Sinnott, a member of the Catholic Missionary Society of St. Columban.

The WIPL, through the Philippine office of the World Islamic Call Society (WICS), invited to the Tripoli conference Ustadhz Ahmad D. Nooh, head of the WIPL-Philippine Chapter, Aleem Ameroddin Sarangani, president of Markazosshabab Al-Muslim Fil Filibbin, Inc., and Eid Kabalu, chief of the MILF Civil-Military Affairs Department.

Nooh and Sarangani are well-known Islamic scholars who studied in Libya at the Quliatul Ad-Da’wah Al-Islamie and in Kuwait University, respectively.

The three Muslim leaders said Sinnott’s abductors should not ask for ransom either because kidnapping is against the principles of Islam.

What is worse, they added, is that the captive is a religious leader who commands respect from the people and has been helping both Christians and Muslims in Mindanao.

"Given the chance, the MILF will crush the kidnappers' group without sacrificing the life of Fr. Sinnott," said Kabalu. "Of course, foremost consideration is the safety of the hostage in any recovery attempt."

“Based on the teachings of Islam, even in a state of war religious leaders and civilians and their properties are strictly not to be harmed,” Sarangani and Nooh stressed.

"We are appealing to the kidnappers to release unharmed and without ransom the Irish priest in the name of Islam and humanity. No one should be held against his will," the Muslim leaders said.

Kabalu, spokesman for MILF military affairs, said the offer of the Moro rebels to participate in the “safe and immediate recovery” of Sinnott still stands.

Kabalu said MILF Chairman Al-Hajj Murad Ebrahim has directed all MILF officers and members to never engage or join in negotiating the release of the missionary because it will only encourage kidnappers to continue their nefarious activities.

“A rescue is still the best option,” the MILF leader said, which is also the group’s reply to the Crisis Management Committee led by Zamboanga del Sur Gov. Aurora Enerio Cerilles.

Gunmen snatched Sinnott on Oct. 11 at his official residence in Pagadian City and brought somewhere in the hinterlands bordering Zamboanga del Sur and Lanao del Norte.

Meanwhile, despite the no ransom policy of the government, a senior Catholic prelate is convinced that Sinnott will not be the last victim of kidnapping in the country.

“What is certain is that this case will not be the last… It is difficult to believe that this will be the last,” former Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said.

He said he is puzzled that despite the no ransom policy of the government, kidnapping still continues in the country.

“I’m puzzled that the administration is quite definite and defined in saying no ransom policy yet kidnapping continue,” Cruz said. “I don’t understand why these kidnappings don’t end, one after another, even with the no ransom policy.”

The former head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines is convinced that the government’s “no ransom policy” is not being followed.

“I don’t know who gives it (ransom) and usually there’s a bargaining as to how much,” said Cruz.

“Usually the ones being kidnapped are foreigners because if they are just locals, I think there would be no ransom. I do not think the hierarchy of the CBCP is disposed to give them ransom but for foreigners ransom is quite conceivable and even probable,” he added.

Cruz said he will continue to pray and hope that the group holding Sinnott will release the priest in view of the latter’s poor health condition.

“My heart goes to Fr. Sinnot because he’s an elderly like I am. An elderly with a heart condition and to be without medicines I think it’s not only a penalty but also a cruelty,” he said.