The Wire

A left wing congressman in the Philippines has narrowly avoided being lynched after the country’s Supreme Court stalled his extradition to a remote village. Sartor Nino Ocampo, with the Bayan Muna party, was taken to the Manila airport in the early hours of this morning, after being held by police over the weekend, in connection with murders that occurred in 1984. But supporters say the charges are trumped up and that he could not possibly have committed the murders because at the time he was being held as a political prisoner by the Marcos regime. The charges come as condemnation grows over increasing number of extra judicial killings of leftist politicians and activists, as the Philippines prepares to head to the polls in May.