Indonesian, Malaysian terror suspects may have to wait 2 more years for Cuba trial to begin

The prosecutor seeks a 2025 trial but the defence argues the case has been dragging for far too long already.

The US government has placed Malaysians Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep (left) and Mohammed Farik Bin Amin in solitary confinement since their arrest in 2003. (FMT pic collage)

GUANTANAMO BAY: A prosecutor on Monday (Apr 24) proposed a March 2025 trial date for an Indonesian and two Malaysians held in a US military detention centre in Cuba for allegedly conspiring in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings, however their defence lawyers protested the timeline as too long, it has been reported. 

The prosecutor pledged to present to the military judge all proposed national security evidence in the case in the next nine months while the defence lawyers contended that the three men have been held by the US since 2003 and asked the judge to require the prosecutors to explain ongoing negotiations with the CIA and other intelligence agencies about the evidence, the New York Times reported. 

"These gentlemen have been incarcerated for 20 years, judge, and these men are entitled to a trial," James R. Hodes, the defence lawyer for Indonesian Encep Nurjaman also known as Hambali, was reported by the New York Times as saying.

Military judge Hayes C. Larsen noted the defence concerns about late filings, BenarNews reported. 

Lead prosecutor Col. George C. Kraehe said about 90 percent of the evidence had been turned over to the defence while the remaining 10 percent was highly classified, therefore steps need to be taken before it is turned over to the defence by late January 2024, reported the news site further. 

Hambali and Malaysians Mohamad Nazir Bin Lep and Mohammed Farik Bin Amin were accused or murder, terrorism and conspiracy in the Bali bombings which killed 202 people and the 2003 JW Marriott Hotel bombing in Indonesia's capital Jakarta in which 11 people died. 

The three were captured in Thailand in 2003 and were kept in secret CIA sites until 2006 when they were brought to the US military detention centre at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba where they have been held since. 

A US Senate report released in 2014 found that each man was tortured during his time in the secret sites. 

Monday's hearing, the first of three days scheduled, was their first return to the courtroom since they were first charged in 2021.

The proceedings also heard Larsen, who will be leaving the bench in June to assume command of the Navy's Defense Service Office West, saying that he did not know who would take over the trial. 

The Malaysians' lawyers, Christine Funk and Brian Bouffard, also complained about inadequate translation services, saying their clients were hearing Bahasa Indonesia interpretation instead of Bahasa Malaysia, their national language. 

"It's a tired refrain," Larsen responded, dismissing the complaint, according to BenarNews. 

Lawyers for the three men spent much of their time protesting the poor translation quality before Larsen during the detainees' arraignment in 2021.

Larsen then ordered the prosecutors to find qualified interpreters for any future proceedings, it has been reported.