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American Morning

Americans Held

Aired December 31, 2003 - 09:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Two American brothers now being held in the Philippines under suspicion of having links to terrorism. Jamil Muhaheed (ph) says he's been persecuted. He says he's innocent. That arrest, he says, and that of his brother, Michael Stubbs, is a ploy by the Philippine government to get more money from the U.S. to fight terrorism. Rashida Stubbs, the daughter of Jamil, is with us now to talk about it with us from San Francisco.
Good morning. Thanks for making time with us.

RASHIDA STUBBS, FATHER WAS ARRESTED FOR TERRORISM IN THE PHILIPPINES: Good morning.

HEMMER: If I could back up just a little bit, why was your father traveling to the Philippines?

STUBBS: To visit his spouse.

HEMMER: And how long had he been there?

STUBS: Before he was arrested, for about two days.

HEMMER: And he said, to paraphrase him, his words from the press conference from yesterday, he did not know who he was meeting with at the time. How is that possible?

STUBBS: Excuse me? Could you repeat that?

HEMMER: Yes, there's an allegation that he was meeting with members of Abu Sayyaf, a group connected with al Qaeda. He's saying he wasn't quite sure who they were at the time. Can you clarify that for us?

STUBBS: I'm not aware of him meeting with anyone from any group.

HEMMER: Your uncle, also with your father, apparently has a history of working at Livermore National Laboratory there, East Bay, northern California. Do you know what kind of access he may have had at that lab? Because apparently U.S. officials are pretty concerned about it.

STUBBS: At this time, I'm not at liberty to speak on that.

HEMMER: There's also the concern that perhaps he passed some information to your father. Is that possible?

STUBBS: My father is not a terrorist. My father's innocent, so there will be no information that would needed to be passed to my father.

HEMMER: Have you talked to him recently, Rashida?

STUBBS: Yes, I have.

HEMMER: And how is he doing? What did he tell you?

STUBBS: He's holding up the best he can in that circumstance, in that situation.

HEMMER: I understand that Rusty Dornin, our CNN colleague there in San Francisco, she was the one who showed you some videotape recently. What was your reaction when you saw your father on tape? How did he look? How did he sound?

STUBBS: I was hurt. He looked like he lost a lot of weight. He looked upset. He didn't look like himself. He looked like he was under -- he had been underfed.

HEMMER: A couple answers ago, you gave me a reaction. I want to get it again if I could from you. What did you think when the accusations and allegations came out against your dad?

STUBBS: I was shocked. I know that the allegations are not true. I know that they're false. I don't understand how this could have happened. This is a nightmare.

HEMMER: Yes, and can you tell me, why do you believe your father was targeted, then, if the allegations are so unfounded?

STUBBS: Well, once again, as I stated before, he's a Muslim, and in that country, as my father stated, that's another way for them to fund money to the Filipino government.

HEMMER: So you think it's extortion?

STUBBS: Yes, I do.

HEMMER: When's he coming home? When will he be deported, do you know?

STUBBS: I have not had a specific date of when he's going to be deported.

HEMMER: All right.

Rashida Stubbs, thanks for sharing in San Francisco this morning. Your father and your uncle there in the Philippines. Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired December 31, 2003 - 09:36   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Two American brothers now being held in the Philippines under suspicion of having links to terrorism. Jamil Muhaheed (ph) says he's been persecuted. He says he's innocent. That arrest, he says, and that of his brother, Michael Stubbs, is a ploy by the Philippine government to get more money from the U.S. to fight terrorism. Rashida Stubbs, the daughter of Jamil, is with us now to talk about it with us from San Francisco.
Good morning. Thanks for making time with us.

RASHIDA STUBBS, FATHER WAS ARRESTED FOR TERRORISM IN THE PHILIPPINES: Good morning.

HEMMER: If I could back up just a little bit, why was your father traveling to the Philippines?

STUBBS: To visit his spouse.

HEMMER: And how long had he been there?

STUBS: Before he was arrested, for about two days.

HEMMER: And he said, to paraphrase him, his words from the press conference from yesterday, he did not know who he was meeting with at the time. How is that possible?

STUBBS: Excuse me? Could you repeat that?

HEMMER: Yes, there's an allegation that he was meeting with members of Abu Sayyaf, a group connected with al Qaeda. He's saying he wasn't quite sure who they were at the time. Can you clarify that for us?

STUBBS: I'm not aware of him meeting with anyone from any group.

HEMMER: Your uncle, also with your father, apparently has a history of working at Livermore National Laboratory there, East Bay, northern California. Do you know what kind of access he may have had at that lab? Because apparently U.S. officials are pretty concerned about it.

STUBBS: At this time, I'm not at liberty to speak on that.

HEMMER: There's also the concern that perhaps he passed some information to your father. Is that possible?

STUBBS: My father is not a terrorist. My father's innocent, so there will be no information that would needed to be passed to my father.

HEMMER: Have you talked to him recently, Rashida?

STUBBS: Yes, I have.

HEMMER: And how is he doing? What did he tell you?

STUBBS: He's holding up the best he can in that circumstance, in that situation.

HEMMER: I understand that Rusty Dornin, our CNN colleague there in San Francisco, she was the one who showed you some videotape recently. What was your reaction when you saw your father on tape? How did he look? How did he sound?

STUBBS: I was hurt. He looked like he lost a lot of weight. He looked upset. He didn't look like himself. He looked like he was under -- he had been underfed.

HEMMER: A couple answers ago, you gave me a reaction. I want to get it again if I could from you. What did you think when the accusations and allegations came out against your dad?

STUBBS: I was shocked. I know that the allegations are not true. I know that they're false. I don't understand how this could have happened. This is a nightmare.

HEMMER: Yes, and can you tell me, why do you believe your father was targeted, then, if the allegations are so unfounded?

STUBBS: Well, once again, as I stated before, he's a Muslim, and in that country, as my father stated, that's another way for them to fund money to the Filipino government.

HEMMER: So you think it's extortion?

STUBBS: Yes, I do.

HEMMER: When's he coming home? When will he be deported, do you know?

STUBBS: I have not had a specific date of when he's going to be deported.

HEMMER: All right.

Rashida Stubbs, thanks for sharing in San Francisco this morning. Your father and your uncle there in the Philippines. Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com