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iti Aisyah, a defendant in the assassination of Kim Jong-nam, will likely be cleared of all charges because Malaysian prosecutors failed to prove that she had a motive to kill the half-brother of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, says her lawyer.

On Wednesday, Gooi Soon Seng said he was confident that his 25-year-old client would be acquitted. A Malaysian court will decide on Aug. 16 whether to proceed with Siti’s case or have it thrown out due to a lack of evidence.

“Personally, I am confident that on Aug. 16, Siti will be acquitted,” Gooi said during a gathering at the Foreign Ministry.

“The evidence produced by the prosecution was wholly circumstantial in nature. There was no eyewitness to the killing of Kim Jong-nam.

“The whole foundation of the case was based on CCTV footage.”

Siti was seen running from the murder scene on CCTV footage when it was played in court. Another suspect, Doan Thi Huong of Vietnam, was seen touching someone in a separate recording, Gooi said.

He added that he had found holes in the Malaysian police’s investigation, including a lack of Siti’s DNA on a shirt she was said to have used and which had been tainted with VX — a banned nerve agent that killed Kim.

Siti and Huong were charged with conspiracy and murder under sections 34 and 302 of the Malaysian penal code, with the latter carrying the death sentence.

They were accused of having common intent with four North Korean fugitives to kill Kim at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in February 2017.

While the identities of the four North Koreans remain unknown, the women — the only suspects in custody — pleaded not guilty, saying they believed they were taking part in a prank reality show and did not know they were handling anything lethal.

“We also submitted that the prosecution had failed to prove the intention to cause death,” Gooi said.

“We submitted that the circumstances before and after the killing were consistent with Siti Aisyah’s innocence.”

Gooi added that intention could only be proved by circumstances before and after the killing.

He said Siti showed no intention to murder because she posted her plans to take part in a prank show on social media days before the murder, adding that after the incident she went to work for three days without knowing that Kim had died.

“If Siti Aisyah knew that VX is a poisonous substance and was used [in the prank], why did she not wear gloves?”

The evidence shown by the Malaysian authorities did not materially connect Siti to the crime.

For instance, her fingernail clippings did not show traces of VX and she also did not suffer any symptoms from VX poisoning, Gooi said.

Hence, Siti should be freed of all criminal charges, he added.

However, it is unlikely that she will return to Indonesia because there is a possibility that the Malaysian authorities may file an appeal and charge her with violating immigration law.

In June, Malaysian prosecutors said Siti and Huong must have been trained to kill Kim.

“You have to be trained for it […] there can be no room for error,” prosecutor Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin said as quoted by Reuters.

He likened the “assassination” to something seen “in a James Bond movie”.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry has hired a legal consultant to assist Indonesian diplomatic missions in the United States following President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration measures.

The consultant, Harun Calehr, said Trump’s immigration policy had narrowed the chances of foreigners to work or study in the US.

There had been a significant decline in the number of foreign student applications, he added quoting media reports.

Calehr said he had been assisting the Indonesian government since 2002 as a pro-bono lawyer.

When asked how many Indonesians he had assisted since Trump took office, he said he did not remember but it was less than 10.