Bali bomber Nazir was influenced by older radicals, says lawyer

Nazir Lep, 47, has been held in solitary confinement at a US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for more than 20 years. (File pic)

PETALING JAYA: Bali bomber Nazir Lep “fell in with a den of vipers” and was influenced by older men after the atrocities committed against Muslims in the Indonesian island of Ambon in 1999, according to his lawyer.

“The world was burning, and he wanted to defend his fellow Muslims,” said lawyer Brian Bouffard. He said Nazir was influenced by the charisma of much older men fighting in the name of religion.

He said Nazir’s anger over the religious and ethnic clashes in Ambon led to his radicalisation. The Ambon clashes were part of broader conflicts in the Maluku islands, particularly involving Christians and Muslims.

Last week, Nazir, 47, and fellow Malaysian Farik Amin, 48, were jailed 23 years by a US military court in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after being held in solitary confinement for more than 20 years.

Both men pleaded guilty to conspiring with the “mastermind” Indonesian Encep Nurjaman, also known as Hambali, to commit the Bali bombings in 2002 which killed 202 people. However, they will serve only five years following a pre-trial agreement.

Bouffard said older radicals “offer a dark mentorship to those who are young and angry” and “twist and weaponise them”.

He said Nazir had grown up over the past 20 years. Bouffard assured Malaysians, Nazir had made peace with himself and had not been made bitter by his detention.

“He spoke about some of the guards who have been positive figures in his life over the years, as well as his legal team, and he has chosen to see the United States as a place which produces people who have shown him kindness instead of viciousness. They treated him as a human being,” Bouffard said.

Bouffar acknowledged that Nazir had been subjected to torture by the Central Intelligence Agency.

“Nazir says he has forgiven all the perpetrators behind the torture. But I will call it what it is. Torture is torture and that is the word for it,” he said.

He said Nazir was not expecting to be forgiven but had forgiven those who tortured him and those who authoriesd that torture. “He isn’t an angry young man any more. He hasn’t been one for a very long time.” - FMT