Netherlands to hold Philippine rebel for 2 weeks

AMSTERDAM, Aug 31 (Reuters) Philippines communist leader Jose Maria Sison, who was arrested on murder charges in the Netherlands, will be detained for up to two weeks because of fears he might try to escape, a Dutch court said today.

Sison, who has been living in the Netherlands since 1987, is the founder of the Philippine Communist Party, whose military wing the New People's Army (NPA) is waging a rebellion across the archipelago that has cost more than 40,000 lives. He was arrested on Tuesday.

Prosecutors said Sison, 68, was suspected of issuing orders for the murders in the Philippines of Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara, two former political associates.

''There is a grave risk that the suspect will flee ... the temporary detention is necessary for the investigation,'' the court said in a statement.

Kintanar was shot dead in a restaurant in 2003 and Tabara was killed with his son-in-law in 2004. Both died after breaking with the NPA.

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo sees the NPA as the country's most serious security threat and last year declared all-out war on the rebels.

Peace talks between the two sides collapsed in 2004 when Washington and some European states put the NPA on their terrorism blacklists.

Philippines activists said around 100 people attended a protest in Amsterdam yesterday calling for Sison's release.

Left-wing rebels in the Philippines threatened on Wednesday to end peace talks with the government, saying it had conspired with Dutch authorities to arrest their self-exiled leader.

Last month, the European Union's highest court annulled a decision by the bloc to put Sison on its terrorism list.

REUTERS RS KP2244