Manila, Philippines ? A former American hostage who returned to the Philippines to testify against her Muslim rebel captors told a court last week that a ransom had been paid but the Abu Sayyaf guerrillas still refused to let her and her husband free because they hoped to get more money.

Missionary Gracia Burnham testified at a local court last Thursday, but because of security reasons journalists weren’t allowed to monitor audio and video recordings until Monday. During 2 and 1/2 hours of testimony, she relived a yearlong nightmare in southern Philippine jungles.

Burnham, who is from Rose Hill, Kan. — near Wichita — was abducted with her husband, Martin, and 18 other people from a Philippine resort on May 27, 2001. She was wounded but was rescued during an army operation on June 7, 2002. Her husband and a Filipino captive were killed in the crossfire, and several hostages, including another American, were beheaded during the captivity.

Before leaving Friday, Burnham said she agreed to testify to help the Philippines become “free from terror.”

Burnham told the court she learned from Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya that the rebels at one time received a ransom payment of $268,000 from an unknown source, but the guerrillas still refused to free her and her husband because they wanted more money.

“The ransom was paid, but they decided it was not enough,” Burnham said.

“We heard Sabaya on the phone … He always said, ‘U.S. $1 million for the Americans,'” she told the court.

Asked whether she was certain that the Abu Sayyaf was behind the kidnappings and not other armed groups in the southern Philippines, Burnham replied: “I know the ASG.”

“They lived with us, walked with us, ate with us.”

Captured Muslim extremist Abu Sayyaf suspects (in yellow shirts) arrive for a hearing under a tight security. Former American hostage Gracia Burnham testified against them Thursday at a special court at a Philippine National Police Camp in Bicutan, south of Manila. Burnham, from Rose Hill, Kan., identified six of the eight suspects of the Abu Sayyaf group.

She recalled the start of their ordeal, when heavily armed Abu Sayyaf guerrillas raided the Dos Palmas island resort, where the couple went to celebrate their wedding anniversary. “There was a banging on the door, ‘bang, bang, bang’ and the banging continued, and Martin yelled, ‘What?”‘ Burnham said.

“The voice from the outside said, ‘It’s the guard.’ M-16s broke the door down, and Martin was taken out,” she said. “One of the men came to the bed and lowered his weapon at me and yelled, ‘go, go, go.”‘

When the questionings turned to her husband’s killing, tears welled in her eyes.

She said he was caught in the crossfire during the army rescue and received a gunshot wound to his chest and died. “I was lying beside Martin as he died,” she said, her voice cracking.

When asked by a prosecutor if she would prefer to forget what happened, Burnham answered, “No.”

“I think I can grow with this experience,” she said.