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uspected terrorist Riduan '€œHambali'€ Isamuddin is unlikely to be repatriated to Indonesia after his removal from the US-run Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba.

Hambali, the alleged leader of regional terrorist group Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) and a known associate of Osama bin Laden, has been linked to the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, most of them foreigners, as well as foiled plots to attack foreign embassies and other targets in Singapore.

Amid strong indications that the US government will dismantle the high-security naval base facility before US President Barack Obama steps down from office in January 2017, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan confirmed on Friday that the US had no plans to hand over Hambali to Indonesia.

'€œThank God, so it will not increase our domestic problems then,'€ Luhut told reporters.

Based on reliable information, Hambali is currently being held at a US federal prison along with other high-security terrorist convicts.

As Indonesia is still facing overcapacity problems in its prisons across the country and amid doubts about whether deradicalization programs have made any progress, a number of Jakarta officials had previously signaled that bringing Hambali home would not benefit Indonesia as the government was focused on preventing any future attacks.

In 2010, the US turned down the National Police'€™s request to hand over Hambali for trial in Indonesia.

Reuters recently reported that the number of former Guantanamo Bay prison inmates who were suspected of having returned to fighting for militant groups had doubled to 12 in the six months through January.

According to Luhut, Hambali was using a Spanish passport rather than an Indonesian one when he was arrested in Thailand in 2003, one of the reasons behind Jakarta'€™s reluctance to have him returned to the country.

International law expert Hikmahanto Juwana said such a reason '€œwas justified by the Citizenship Law, which allows the government to revoke the citizenship of an Indonesian who uses the passport of another country'€.

Hikmahanto also believed that the government would face more problems should Hambali be sent back to Indonesia since the Constitutional Court ruled in 2004 that the existing Terrorism Law cannot be applied retroactively.

The government is currently also drafting an amendment to the Terrorism Law in its efforts to achieve more comprehensive preventive measures.

The National Counterterrorism Agency (BNPT), however, could not be reached for comment on the matter.

Previous media reports have said that Hambali was held in secret prisons run by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) before being transferred to Guantanamo in 2006.