TWO Malaysians who have been detained at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba since 2006 will be indicted tomorrow on terror charges related to several deadly bombings in Indonesia almost two decades ago.

Mohamad Nazir Lep, who used pseudonyms such as Bashir Lap, Lilie, and Mohd Farik Amin, also known as Yazid Zubair, are linked to Al-Qaeda and the Southeast Asian militant organisation, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).

Both of them will be charged along with the Indonesian national, Encep Nurjaman, also known as Hambali.

The three are facing charges related to their alleged roles in large-scale terrorist attacks in Bali in 2002 and Jakarta in 2003.

It is believed that Hambali, Nazir and Farik received direct instructions from Al-Qaeda’s Osama Bin Laden around the 1980s to the 1990s.

Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani told The Malaysian Insight that they fully supported the trials of the accused.

“Police fully support the trial because only through the legal process, the accused will be able to defend themselves.

“The trial is also conducted openly and the accused are represented by a lawyer.

“However, we will not send officers to monitor their trials,” Acryl said.

The three individuals were initially scheduled to face indictment in the military court of a US naval base in Guantanamo Bay last February but the date was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This is officially the first trial for the three men after a 15-year detention at Guantanamo.

The US government had offered a US$10 million (RM42 million) reward for the arrest of Hambali and his lieutenants who were nabbed in an operation by the Central Intelligence Agency and the Thai government in August, 2003.

They were detained just a few days before the Apec conference in Bangkok where a large-scale attack had been planned on the leaders and delegates of the conference.

US intelligence believed they were also involved in a suicide plot involving the hijacking of a commercial passenger plane in the second wave of attacks after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States.

Initially, they were detained as terrorist suspects but since 2006, they have been classified as “high-value detainees” along with 16 others at Guantanamo Bay.

According to the charge sheet uploaded by the US Military Commission Office, the two Malaysians face nine charges while Hambali faces eight charges.

The three men are charged with conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, violence, assaulting civilians, carrying out attacks on public property as well as destruction of property.

Prosecution will be led by Lt Col Megan L. Gentry.

The US military profile of Hambali described him as the mastermind of operations for JI.

Indonesian authorities blamed JI for carrying out a bombing that killed 202 people in Kuta, Bali in October 2002 – the worst terrorist attack to date in Indonesia. Most of the victims were foreigners from Australia (88) and Britain (23). A total of 38 Indonesians were also killed.

US authorities believe that Hambali helped plan the 2002 Bali bombings and the JW Marriott hotel bombing in Jakarta in 2003 that killed 12 people.

Hambali was a JI general who coordinated attacks in the region, especially in Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia. – August 29, 2021.