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US charges Hambali over Bali bombings after years in legal limbo
The Indonesian Islamic extremist leader has been languishing for more than 14 years in the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba, a fact that has elicited criticism from terror experts and rights groups.
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Flowers, letters, photographs and incense are laid at a monument to honor the 2002 Bali bombing victims in October 2019. (JP/Anggara Mahendra)
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fter years in legal limbo, Indonesian Islamic extremist Riduan “Hambali” Isamuddin will be put on trial for his involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings and the 2003 Jakarta Marriott attack, the United States announced on Thursday.
US military prosecutors pressed charges against Hambali nearly 18 years after he and two others were captured in Thailand. He has spent more than 14 of the intervening years languishing in the high-security Guantanamo Bay detention camp (Gitmo) in Cuba, a fact that has sparked calls for his extradition to Indonesia.
Born as Encep Nurjaman, the Cianjur, Wes Java native was the leader of the Indonesian jihadist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) and is believed to have been Al-Qaeda's top representative in Southeast Asia.
JI, with support from Al-Qaeda, bombed tourist nightclubs in Bali on Oct. 12, 2002, killing 202. The group was also responsible for the Aug. 5, 2003, attack on the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta, which left 12 dead and scores injured.
Malaysian nationals Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep and Mohammed Farik Bin Amin were also charged. They were Hambali’s top aides in JI and had been trained by Al-Qaeda, according to Gitmo case documents.
The men were put under the Central Intelligence Agency’s custody, where they were subjected to physical torture and other now-outlawed methods of interrogation before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2006.
"The charges include conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, terrorism, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, destruction of property and accessory after the fact, all in violation of the law of war," the Pentagon wrote in a statement, as quoted by AFP.
