NARRATIVE SUMMARIES OF REASONS FOR LISTING
QI.H.204.05. ISNILON TOTONI HAPILON
Date on which the narrative summary became available on the Committee’s website: 26.08.2009
Isnilon Totoni Hapilon was listed on 6 December 2005 pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2 of resolution 1617 (2005) as being associated with Al-Qaida, Usama bin Laden or the Taliban for “participating in the financing, planning, facilitating, preparing or perpetrating of acts or activities by, in conjunction with, under the name of, on behalf, or in support of” the Abu Sayyaf Group (QE.A.1.01).
Additional information:
Isnilon Totoni Hapilon is one of the leaders of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) (QE.A.1.01). Since 1997, he has held several positions in operational leadership of the group and prior to the death of ASG founder Abdurajak Abubakar Janjalani in December 1998, Hapilon was a member of ASG’s central committee.
As of November 1997, Hapilon was an ASG commander. In late 1999, Hapilon served as an instructor at an ASG camp where classes included military tactics. As of early 2000, Hapilon was an advisor to ASG leader Khadafi Abubakar Janjalani (QI.J.180.04), the younger brother of ASG’s founder. He also served as his deputy.
In 2002, Isnilon Totoni Hapilon and four other ASG members, including Khadafi Janjalani and Jainal Antel Sali Jr. (QI.S.209.05), were indicted in the United States for their alleged involvement in terrorist acts against United States and other foreign nationals in and around the Philippines.
In August 2003, Hapilon and approximately 100 ASG members were present in “Camp Usama”, an ASG training camp established in 2002 by Hapilon in the Southern Philippines. As of August 2004, Hapilon commanded approximately 70 armed followers.
Hapilon has perpetrated several brutal acts of violence including kidnappings of Philippine and foreign nationals. In August 2000, Jeffrey Schilling, a United States citizen, was kidnapped by ASG members who held him hostage for more than seven months on Jolo Island in the Philippines. Hapilon is believed to have been among the armed ASG members who guarded him in December 2000. Schilling was rescued from his captors in April 2001.
In May 2001, Hapilon and other ASG members seized, detained, and transported 20 hostages, including 17 Philippine nationals and three United States nationals, from the Dos Palmas Resort in the Philippines, on behalf of ASG. In June 2001, two of the Philippine hostages and one of the United States nationals were beheaded. Hapilon and other ASG members concealed and moved the hostages in the dense jungles and mountains of Basilan Island, the Philippines, for over a year. During that time, ASG took over a church and hospital on Basilan Island and held approximately 200 people hostage, including the three Americans from the ASG kidnapping at the Dos Palmas Resort.
Since the death of Khadafi Janjalani in 2006, Isnilon Hapilon, like Radulan Sahiron (QI.S.208.05), has been among the remaining top commanders of ASG. Hapilon is based on Jolo Island, southern Philippines.
Hapilon is currently providing protection to Jemaah Islamiyah members, including Joko Pitono (QI.P.185.05) and Umar Patek.
Related listed individuals and entities:
Abu Sayyaf Group (QE.A.1.01), listed on 6 October 2001
Khadafi Abubakar Janjalani (QI.J.180.04), listed on 22 December 2004
Joko Pitono (QI.P.185.05), Listed on 16 May 2005
Radulon Sahiron (QI.S.208.05), listed on 6 December 2005
Jainal Antel Sali Jr. (QI.S.209.05), listed on 6 December 2005