Sunday, August 29, 2021

Trial of 2 Malaysian terror suspects in Guantanamo begins tomorrow

 

Mohammed Nazir Lep (left) and Mohammed Farik Amin get their date in court after being held for 14 years by the US government.

PETALING JAYA: Two Malaysian terror suspects are to be indicted tomorrow at the United States Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for charges linked to deadly bombings in Indonesia more than 19 years ago.

Mohammed Nazir Lep and Mohammed Farik Amin have been detained in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba since 2006, together with Indonesian Encep Nurjaman, also known as Hambali, who is said to be the mastermind of the bombings.

According to the US Office of Military Commissions, the three had been scheduled to be arraigned before a military court at the naval base in February, but it was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

A charge sheet uploaded by the office showed that Nazir and Farik face nine charges, while Hambali faces eight, in relation to their alleged roles in the terrorist attacks in Bali (2002) and Jakarta (2003).

All three were charged with conspiracy, attempted murder, murder, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, terrorism, destruction of property, and attacking civilians and civilian objects.

Authorities reportedly said the charges would not carry the death penalty.

In 2003, the trio were arrested in Thailand and sent to a CIA prison network before being moved to Guantanamo in September 2006.

According to reports, the suspects were allegedly linked to the Bali bombings in November 2002, in which 202 people died, and the August 2003 attack at the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, which killed 12 people.

The Malaysians were also implicated in a planned al-Qaeda plot to crash a hijacked plane into the 73-storey Library Tower/US Bank Tower in Los Angeles.

They are being held at Camp Delta in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by the US authorities.

Hambali was previously described as “an operational mastermind for Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian militant group affiliated with al-Qaeda.”

He was also among those responsible for organising the terrorist attacks in the US on Sept 11, 2001. - FMT

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