Twenty-three Filipino fishermen who were jailed for illegal fishing in the Malaysian island of Sabah, have been freed, local media reported Tuesday.
The fishermen of the vessel FY May-Anne, which was caught fishing inside Malaysian waters this April, are expected to returnto the Philippines by air from their detention at the Kepayan Prison in Sabah on Tuesday.
Janet Policarpio, owner of the fishing vessel, confirmed to local news network ABS-CBN News that the fishermen had already been released after serving a three-month prison term.
She said, however, the captain of the ship, are still being held in custody for two more months.
Sabah Fisheries State Office filed a case against them for violating the Malaysian Fisheries Act of 1985. The Filipinos pleaded not guilty before the court but were convicted of the charges in May, the report said.
The Sabah authority in recent years has detained a number of Filipino migrant workers and fishermen who were caught working illegally in the resources-rich region. Most of them are from the southern Philippine islands in Mindanao where decades of insurgency has forced tens of thousands of Filipinos to flee their homes for a change of life.
Source:Xinhua
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