Nur Misuari

Nur Misuari (Bahasa Sūg: Nūr Miswāri) (born in 1942 in Jolo, Sulu, Philippines) is a moro politician and former leader of the Moro National Liberation Front. He completed his education through academic scholarships at the University of the Philippines and became a student activist. Misuari was a lecturer at the University of the Philippines in political science and in the 1960s, he established the Mindanao Independence Movement which aimed to organize an independent state in southern Philippines. The Mindanao Independence Movement formed the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) that sought political reforms from the Government of the Philippines. Unable to gain reforms, the MNLF engaged in military conflict against the Philippine government and its supporters between 1972 to 1976 under the leadership of Misuari. The military resistance to the government of former Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos did not produce autonomy for the Moro people. He departed to Saudi Arabia in exile. He returned to the Philippines after Marcos was removed from office during the People Power Revolution in 1986.

Misuari justified the MNLF armed struggle on the non-implementation of the Tripoli Agreement, originally signed by Ferdinand Marcos and later included and accepted in the peace agreement signed by former Philippine president Fidel Ramos in the 1990s. This agreement established an autonomous region for Moros with Misuari as governor. He was removed from his office when Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo became president in 2001 and was arrested in 2007 on charges of terrorism. On December 20, 2007 he was denied a petition for bail and remained under house arrest in Manila. The Philippine court however, granted the bail petition of Misuari's seven co-accused, at 100,000 pesos. On April 2, 2008, former rebel leader, Muslimin Sema and mayor of Cotabato City replaced Misuari, as the leader of the MNLF On April 25, 2008, he was allowed to post bail, upon the instructions of the Cabinet security cluster