PETALING JAYA: The arraignment of the two Malaysian terror suspects together with a Indonesian “mastermind” was wrapped up before a US military tribunal at Guantanamo Bay yesterday but without any of the defendants entering a plea and their lawyers expressing frustration and doubt about the fairness of the proceedings.
The two-day court appearance for Mohammed Nazir Lep and Mohd Farik Amin and Indonesian Encep Nurjaman, who is more commonly known as Hambali, was adjourned without setting a schedule for the trial to continue after hearing the defendants’ decisions.
“I suspect what will happen in court is that we are going to be working long hours on appeals,” lawyer James Hodes, who represents Hambali, told Indonesian news portal BenarNews by telephone shortly after the hearing ended.
“This isn’t play time, we’re all very frustrated,” he said about the objections, according to a report published by the portal early this morning.
All three suspects, who were referred to as “alien unprivileged enemy belligerents” more than a dozen times in the affidavits, face eight charges including seven related to twin bombings that killed 202 people in Bali in October 2002 – Indonesia’s deadliest terror attack to date – and a bombing at the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta in August 2003.
The eight charges are conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, terrorism, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, and destruction of property.
All three men were arrested in Thailand in 2003 and sent to secret CIA-operated “black sites” before being moved to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay in 2006.
On the first day of the hearing on Monday, the defence lawyers objected to an interpreter referred to as one “Mr Singh” by a news report, whom they alleged had previously translated conversations between the defendants and an unnamed legal counsel, because he was sitting with the prosecution team.
The judge denied the request to have the translator removed from the courtroom.
The report said Hodes and attorneys Christine Funk, who represents Farik and Brian Bouffard, who represents Nazir, spent much of Tuesday’s portion of the hearing arguing for accurate interpretations of the charges which were serious and extensive.
A frustrated Hodes said the defence teams had no time frame for the case to resume or when it could conclude, adding that he and the other lawyers have not received discovery evidence from the prosecutors.
“It probably won’t be provided until next year,” he said, when speaking to reporters after the trial.
No evidence of a fair trial
After the hearing, Farik’s counsel Funk said she was frustrated. “Frankly after this two-day arraignment, I didn’t see any evidence that he would get a fair trial,” AP quoted her as saying.
After the arraignment, Bouffard said it was so flawed that it should be redone, AP reported.
Speaking to BenarNews after the trial, Joshua Kastenberg, a University of New Mexico law professor and former Air Force judge, said the counsels were right to raise their concerns about the interpreter sitting with prosecutors and get those concerns on the record.
“It could be an unfair leg up in the trial. Those are damn good points and I stress the damn on that,” he said.
He also said the defence lawyers were right to argue for accurate interpretations of testimony, calling them fundamental to a proper trial.
The conspiracy charge alleges the three had conspired with al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – the alleged planner of the Sept 11 attacks in New York and Washington – beginning in August 1996.
The Office of Military Commissions has scheduled pre-trial hearing for Khalid from Nov 1 to 19 at the Guantanamo Bay court, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.
Nazir and Farik also face a charge of accessory after the fact for allegedly hindering the apprehension of Hambali between Oct 12, 2002, the date of the Bali bombing, and about June 30, 2003, by providing false documents, weapons and funds while providing transportation and lodging.
The proceedings were broadcast remotely to some reporters who were covering the arraignment from Fort Meade, a US Army base in Maryland near Washington.
The military asked members of the media who were attending the hearing at Camp Justice at Guantanamo Bay as well as those watching it from Fort Meade not to take photographs or videos while the arraignment was in progress.
Hambali, Nazir and Farik were in court both days and could be seen when their attorneys addressed the court. The three accused wore western-style clothing on Tuesday after dressing in traditional garb the day before. - FMT
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