Recent Appearances...

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Hello !
Recent Appearances...

Hambali	Hambali	al-Qaeda	Southeast Asia				20031016
	Hambali	Jemaah Islamiyah	Southeast Asia	Indonesian	Arrested	Second in Command	20031006
	Riduan Isamuddin	Jemaah Islamiyah	Southeast Asia	Indonesian	In Jug	Big Shot	20031119
		Real name of Hambali
	Riduan Isamuddin	Rabitatul Mujahideen	Southeast Asia	Indonesian	Captured	Big Shot	20021120
	Riduan bin Isamuddin	Jemaah Islamiyah	Terror Networks				20030110
	Riduan Isamuddin	al Qaeda	Southeast Asia	Indonesian	Captured	Big Shot	20021205
	Riduan Isamuddin	Jemaah Islamiah	Southeast Asia	Indonesian	Captured	Big Shot	20030618
	Hambali	al Qaeda	Southeast Asia				20021205
	Hambali	Jemaah Islamiah	Southeast Asia				20051002	Link
	Riduan Isamuddin	al-Qaeda	Fifth Column				20030116
Muhammad Hambali	Muhammad Hambali	Hamas	Middle East				20030905

Southeast Asia

Jakarta accepting that key Bali bombing suspect is Indonesian marks a reversal

2025-01-28

[BenarNews] Southeast Asian nation is considering seeking repatriation of Hambali – detained at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay since 2006 – whose case remains resolved.

Indonesia’s new government is considering seeking a key Bali bombing suspect’s return from Guantanamo Bay because, its law minister said, Jakarta is as concerned about its citizens imprisoned abroad as it is in repatriating some foreign convicts.

Jakarta’s acknowledgement that Hambali

...real name Riduan Isamuddin, close personal friend of Osama bin Laden, one of the founders of Jemaah Islamiyah and the planner of the 2002 Bali bombings. He was captured with the help of a mid-Eastern intel service, shipped to Guantanamo to rot but he'll likely be released eventually because that was a long time ago and we were all so much younger then...
, the suspect in jug at the U.S. military base in Cuba, is Indonesian marks a reversal. Analysts say the change may be linked to his bully boy group Jemaah Islamiyah disbanding or President Prabowo Subianto’s historical concern for the rights of citizens abroad.

The reason given by Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Indonesia’s law minister, referred to Jakarta’s repatriation last month of a Filipina and five Australian drug convicts.

"Our primary concern is ensuring the protection and legal assistance for all Indonesian nationals abroad, regardless of their actions," Yusril told news hounds in Jakarta on Tuesday.

"This demonstrates to the public that the government is not only concerned with foreign prisoners in Indonesia but also cares for Indonesian citizens detained abroad," he had told news hounds last week, state news agency Antara reported.

BenarNews contacted Yusril’s office, which confirmed his comments to the media.

Hambali, whose real name is Encep Nurjaman, has been detained without trial for 18 years at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, with his case still unresolved.

The three bombs that targeted Bali nightclubs on Oct. 12, 2002, killed 202 people. The attacks were blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a Southeast Asian bully boy network linked to al-Qaeda — Hambali was a big shot.

Now 60 years old, Hambali was first arraigned before a U.S. military judge only in 2021. Another pre-trial hearing in the case is scheduled next week, from Jan. 27 until Jan. 31.

The latest developments in Indonesia related to the Hambali case follow the quiet repatriation last month of two Malaysian accomplices in the 2002 Bali bombings.

Yusril said that recent efforts through the previous Indonesian government to establish communication with Hambali through the Foreign Ministry had failed.

"We also asked the United States to expedite his trial, but that has not happened. In earlier discussions, repatriation for trial in Indonesia was considered," Yusril said.

Sidney Jones, senior advisor at the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, said that bringing Hambali back home was "the right thing to do."

"Nothing justifies the treatment Hambali has endured, including reported torture and indefinite detention," Jones told BenarNews.

"If he had been tried in Indonesia after his 2003 arrest, he might have received a life sentence."

The country’s counterterrorism unit, Detachment 88, though, is capable of monitoring him effectively, Jones said.

A front man for the National Counter-Terrorism Agency (BNPT) declined to comment about why the government had reversed its position on Hambali.

As recently as 2021, the government denied that Hambali was an Indonesian citizen, citing his ownership of a foreign passport, and rejected any consideration of bringing him back.

Guantanamo Bay, a facility criticized globally for holding suspects indefinitely without trial, has long been a symbol of the post-9/11 war on terror, noted Al Chaidar, a terrorism analyst from Malikussaleh University in Lhokseumawe.

"This is the United States’ greatest failure — claiming to uphold democracy but disregarding the rule of law," he said.

"Hambali has been detained for more than 20 years without resolution."

Adlini Ilma Ghaisany Sjah, a terrorism researcher at Nanyang Technological University, told BenarNews "it’s possible" that this Indonesian government’s shift is related to the end of JI.

"The Indonesian police have also announced plans to repatriate 16 former JI members from Syria and 10 from the Philippines, which could indicate a broader shift in policy," said Adlini, from the Singapore university’s Center for Political Violence and Terrorism Research.

Besides, Prabowo has in the past championed the rights of Indonesian nationals abroad.

For instance, Prabowo himself advocated for the eventually successful return in 2021 of an Indonesian domestic worker on death row in Malaysia.

It is possible that if Jakarta requested Hambali’s repatriation, it may face resistance from the new U.S. administration under Donald Trump

...His ancestors didn't own any slaves...
, Ian Wilson from Murdoch University in Australia told BenarNews.

"Considering Trump’s support for keeping the Guantanamo internment camp in operation, it would seem unlikely he’d be receptive to the idea of repatriation," said Wilson, a lecturer in politics and security studies.

"[That is] unless it was part of a deal seen as having clear benefits for his administration."

Wilson was referring to Trump’s earlier term as president, when he signed an executive order in 2018 to keep Guantanamo open.

Meanwhile,
...back at the revival hall, Buford bit the snake and Eloise began speaking in tongues...
one of Hambali’s younger brothers, Kankan Abdulkodir, told BenarNews that he had heard of talk regarding the potential repatriation and expressed hope for the best.

Kankan said the family last spoke to Hambali via video call last December, during which he told them he was in good health, but they were not allowed to discuss his legal case.

"If it is his fate to be released, then I hope it will happen," Kankan said.

"But if he has to stay at Guantanamo Bay, then so be it."

Link

Southeast Asia

Malaysians guilty of roles in 2002 Bali bombings released from Guantanamo

2024-12-25

2024-12-18
[BenarNews] The families of Mohammed Nazir bin Lep and Mohammed Farik bin Amin celebrated news of their return home.

Two Malaysians who pleaded guilty for their roles in the 2002 Bali bombings were in their government’s custody after the United States announced their repatriation from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, where they were locked up for 18 years.

The duo, Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, were turned over to Malaysian authorities, according to a statement from the home ministry in Kuala Lumpur.

"The unity government has received from the United States government the two Malaysian nationals, Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, who were in prison since 2006 at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp on the principle of human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
and support for universal justice," the ministry said in a statement Wednesday.

However,
if you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning...
it did not mention whether the two would be sent to a Malaysian prison upon being repatriated from the U.S. naval base in Cuba.

In January, a U.S. military judge at Guantanamo Bay sentenced bin Amin and bin Lep to five more years in prison after they pleaded guilty to five charges connected to their supporting roles in twin bombings that killed 202 people in October 2002 — Indonesia’s deadliest-ever terror attack.

Their repatriation this week was made in secret and information was released to their lawyers at the last minute.

Lawyer Brian Bouffard said his client, bin Lep, was a changed man and ready to be reunited with his family. Their repatriation this week was made in secret and information was released to their lawyers at the last minute.

"It is now more than two decades since Nazir was taken. He has grown in that time, and is today a man of peace who will live the remainder of his life in peace. We are grateful to everyone, in Malaysia and in the U.S., who understood that it was time to bring Nazir home," Bouffard said in a text message to BenarNews.

In its own statement, the U.S. Defense Department said both men had provided testimony before their departure against Indonesian Encep Nurjaman (Hambali

...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and whatever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th and 47th President of the United States...
’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

"There has been concern following Trump’s victory in the U.S. election. But we leave it to the government and the authority to work on it. Our hope is for him to be released soon," the source said.

WE LOVE HIM
Relatives of bin Lep were elated that he is back in Malaysia.

Professing his love for his younger brother, Najib Lep, 60, said he had already made plans to reintegrate him back into the society.

"We love him. We will take care of him and his welfare when he returns to us," Najib told BenarNews.

"For now, we have yet to receive any information from the Malaysian authorities. What we’ve got so far is just details from the media. Nevertheless, we cannot be more happy and grateful to Allah."

A source, who requested anonymity to ensure the safety of bin Amin’s family, said they were ready to welcome him home.

"Mohammed Farik has expressed his desire to care for his ailing parents upon return. His siblings have prepared a place for him to stay and will provide other necessary assistance for him. It will take time to readjust as he has been away from home for more than 20 years.

"The family is not ready to speak to the press and is waiting for clearance to meet Mohammed Farik," the source told BenarNews.

Bin Amin’s parents, ages 82 and 88, had been made aware of his return.

Lawyer Christine Funk said she and other members of bin Amin’s legal team were overjoyed by the prospect of their client being back in Malaysia.

"Mr. bin Amin said it best at his sentencing, when he told the Commission, the prosecution, the victim family members, and the observers, ’Instead of trying to change the world, I can only change myself. And over the past 20 years, I have changed. I am not an angry young man anymore. I am a reformed man,’" Funk said in a statement to BenarNews, adding he planned to "go forward as a good and peaceful Moslem."

Funk said the other members are confident that bin Amin will succeed.

Malaysian National Police Chief Razarudin Husain said the pair were to be evaluated and rehabilitated before being reintegrated into society, adding "everyone deserves a second chance."

"Both individuals are in good and healthy condition and feel blessed that they are able to return home and finally reunite with their family," he said in a statement about bin Amin and bin Lep.

"Both showed a positive attitude and openness toward the evaluation process and rehabilitation and have expressed their high commitment to become progressive members of society."

CONGRESS NOTIFIED LAST MONTH
Leading up to their release, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin notified Congress on Nov. 14 "of his intent to repatriate" the Malaysians "and, in consultation with our partners in Malaysia, we completed the requirements for responsible transfer," the statement from the Pentagon said. A 30-day notice must be filed before such transfers can occur.

The Malaysians had been linked to Hambali until their cases were separated from his in 2023 ahead of their plea deal.

Court documents state that beginning at the end of 2001, "including the periods before, during, and after the October 12, 2002, Bali bombings," bin Lep and bin Amin helped Hambali "transfer money for operations, and obtain and store items such as fraudulent identification documents, weapons and instructions on how to make bombs."

With the transfer, the number of detainees at Guantanamo Bay has been reduced to 27, the Pentagon said.

Link

Southeast Asia

Malaysian defendants in Bali bombings to serve about 5 more years

2024-01-28

[BenarNews] A U.S. military judge ruled Friday that two Malaysians linked to the 2002 Bali bombings are to serve about five more years in prison in addition to the two decades they have been detained. The announcement at the military court in Guantanamo Bay came shortly after a panel of military officers recommended 23-year sentences for the pair, who last week pleaded guilty to supporting roles in Indonesia’s worst-ever terror attack that left 202 people dead. The lighter punishment reflects terms of a plea deal struck late last year, details of which were revealed in Judge Wesley Braun’s announcement Friday.

The five-member panel deliberated for about two hours after hearing final statements, .

On Friday night, it remained unclear whether Mohammed Farik Bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep would complete their sentences at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba or elsewhere. chief prosecutor Col. George C. Kraehe did not immediately respond to a question about this from BenarNews.

The two defendants and the relatives of their victims showed no emotion as the panel issued its recommendation inside the nondescript building that houses the military court, or moments later when the judge handed down his ruling.

The two men have been incarcerated at Guantanamo since they were flown here 17 years ago from a CIA black site overseas, and it was only in August 2021 that they finally got their first day in court here.

Bin Lep and bin Amin made statements on Thursday that their hearts had changed during more than 20 years in jug — first in Thailand following their 2003 arrests, then at a CIA black site before arriving at the base in Cuba in 2006.

The two wore Islamic garb earlier in the week but appeared in court on Friday in blazers and button-down shirts. Their sentences take effect from last week, when Braun, a U.S. Air Force officer, accepted their guilty pleas.

Delivering the prosecution’s closing arguments Friday, Kraehe said he spoke for the victims’ families — those watching in the hearing room and thousands of others who could not attend.

Addressing the defendants’ claims that they were tortured under the American government’s Rendition, Detention and Interrogation (RDI) policy, Kraehe said that occurred years ago. They have been treated humanely at Guantanamo, he said, telling the panel members that they were not tasked with judging the RDI policy.

"Our task is to give the victims justice," he said. "The accused are not the victims here."

Kraehe told of how bin Amin and bin Lep had "heeded the late Osama bin Laden

...... who doesn't live anywhere anymore......
’s call" in the 1990s. They headed to Afghanistan in 2000, trained to participate in ~~violent~~ mostly peaceful jihad and swore an oath to bin Laden after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

"This is what they wanted, what they trained for," Kraehe said.

During that time, the pair met Indonesian Encep Nurjaman (also known as Hambali

...real name Riduan Isamuddin, close personal friend of Osama bin Laden, one of the founders of Jemaah Islamiyah and the planner of the 2002 Bali bombings. He was captured with the help of a mid-Eastern intel service, shipped to Guantanamo to rot but he'll likely be released eventually because that was a long time ago and we were all so much younger then...
), the suspected main planner of the 2002 Bali bombings. Their cases were separated in 2023, with Hambali’s lawyer saying that his client did not expect to be given a similar plea deal.

Last week, bin Amin and bin Lep pleaded guilty to murder, conspiracy and three other charges.

Christine Funk, the lead attorney for bin Amin, said the worst thing he ever did was take money in December 2002 — two months after the Oct. 12 bombings — to hide conspirators. That conspiracy led to the pleas on murder and four other charges.

"You become responsible for everyone’s actions," she said.

She acknowledged the victims’ suffering while pleading her case for bin Amin.

"Because we believe the pain of the victims can co-exist with the rights of the defendant," she told the panel.

Funk, who wears a headscarf in court in deference to her Moslem client, discussed the torture he claims he was subjected to following his arrest in Thailand and during his time at the CIA black site. She used a few of his sketches presented in court on Thursday to show torture, including waterboarding.

She also released details from a report by expert Hawthorne Smith, who has worked with survivors of torture and human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
abuses for nearly three decades. He found bin Amin suffered from complex PTSD.

"[H]e indicates that Mr. bin Amin has endured symptoms of re-experiencing, such as trauma-related nightmares, sometimes three to four times a week; insomnia and other sleep disturbances; and intrusive thoughts," Funk said.

She spoke about bin Amin’s effort to change and the possibility that he be rehabilitated.

Bin Lep attorney Brian Bouffard told the court that his client did provide support to bombing conspirators and has taken responsibility for his actions.

"He is not here to call himself a victim," Bouffard said, adding bin Lep is not asking for mercy,

He said bin Lep offered prayers as he listened to the survivors’ testimony on Wednesday while adding that those efforts changed nothing in terms of the crime.

Bouffard also said that bin Lep had moved past the torture he suffered while in jug and has cooperated with Sherlocks.

Brig. Gen. Jackie Thompson, chief counsel for the Military Commissions Defense Council, expressed hope that guilty pleas and subsequent sentencings of bin Amin and bin Lep would bring closure to the victims and their families. Thompson, who watched the proceedings from the hearing room at the rear of the court, delivered a statement to BenarNews where he noted that the 20-year delay in bringing the men to justice was "extremely distressing and frustrated the desire of everyone for accountability and justice."

Thompson, who is in charge of the military’s defense attorneys, noted that 30 prisoners remain detained at the Guantanamo Bay prison, including 16 who have been cleared for release or transfer.

"The time for repatriating or transferring the cleared men is now," he said in the statement.

"A country that respects the rule of law can and should do better than this."

More can be read about the trial in this Benar News article from a few days ago.

Link

Home Front: WoT

2 Malaysian inmates at Guantanamo to be sentenced, possibly released

2024-01-24

[BenarNews] A judge at a U.S. military court in Guantanamo Bay has recommended that two Malaysians who pleaded guilty to the 2002 Bali bombings serve 20 to 25 years in prison and be repatriated or released to a third country. The fate of Mohammad bin Lep,

...in our archives as Mohammed Nazir bin Lep and Mohammad Nazir Lep, he’s one of the two Malaysians arrested with Hambali back in 2003...

47, and Mohammad bin Amin,

... a.k.a. Mohammed Farik bin Amin and elsewhere abbreviated as Mohd Farik Bin Amin, the other of the Hambali’s Malaysian henchmen...

48 — who have been incarcerated at the U.S. Naval Base in Cuba for 17 years — will be determined during a sentencing hearing scheduled to begin there next week. Their sentencing will mark only the second military trial to be completed at the controversial prison set up by the United States at Guantanamo in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Judge Wesley Braun, a U.S. Air Force officer hearing the case, noted on Wednesday that their plea agreements include a provision allowing live testimony or written statements from victims and relatives or people who were killed in the deadliest terror attack ever to hit Indonesia, which claimed 202 lives.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Guantanamo judge sets January schedule for guilty pleas in Indonesian bombings

2023-10-24

[BenarNews] A U.S. military judge on Monday announced plans to accept guilty pleas early next year from two Malaysians who have been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay for 17 years over their alleged roles in deadly bombings in Bali and Jakarta two decades ago.

Judge Wesley Braun announced that a court session would be held during the week of Jan. 15, where he expects to receive guilty pleas from Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, and to hold sentencing hearings about a week later.

"The timeline we are working with here is aggressive," Braun told military prosecutors and lawyers representing the Malaysians.

The courtroom proceedings from the U.S. naval base in Cuba were broadcast via a video link to news hounds covering the session from Fort Meade, a base in Maryland.

"We are going to hit that deadline in January very quickly," Braun said.

The judge’s announcement of plea discussions showed that the prosecution and defense teams for bin Amin and bin Lep had been working to reach an outcome that would not require a trial.

Bin Amin and bin Lep have been charged with conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, terrorism, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects and destruction of property linked to the bombings that took place in Indonesia in 2002 and 2003.

The 2002 twin blasts in Bali killed 202 people — Indonesia’s worst-ever terrorist attack.

The court did not release details about what charges would be included in the guilty pleas.

Braun and the lawyers spent a portion of Monday’s two-hour hearing setting a schedule to present evidence and other preparations needed before the January court action — including what questions to ask bin Amin and bin Lep regarding their pleas.

A recent court document pointed to the likelihood that bin Amin was prepared to enter a plea, potentially as soon as Monday’s hearing. A subsequent document in the chain added bin Lep.

Christine Funk, bin Amin’s lead attorney, told Braun she was concerned that her team would not have enough time to examine all evidence from the prosecutors in less than two months.

In a document prior to the hearing, the court allowed bin Lep’s lead attorney, Brian Bouffard, and two others assigned to the case to be absent because they were "engaged in mission-related work in Southeast Asia."

Bin Amin and bin Lep were charged, along with Indonesian national Encep Nurjaman (also known as Hambali

Link

Southeast Asia

Malaysia seeking return of 2 Gitmo detainees: home minister

2023-09-27

[BenarNews] Kuala Lumpur is working to bring home two Malaysian suspects in the 2002 Bali bombings who have been detained at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay for 17 years, the home minister said Monday after a trip to New York last week. In a Facebook post that has since been removed, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said he had discussed the matter while in New York with Tina Kaidanow, the U.S. special representative for Guantanamo affairs. He said he had traveled to the prison, located in Cuba, but did not say when.

Malaysians Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep were arrested in Thailand in 2003, along with Indonesian Encep Nurjaman, also known as Hambali

"I have met with two Malaysians detained there. Their story really touched me. It’s a downward spiral about life, about repentance, about the chance to be a better person," Saifuddin said. "With God’s grace, we will try to expedite the process for them to return to Malaysia."

The home minister did not reply to BenarNews’ request for comment about why the social media post was removed about nine hours after it went live.

Saifuddin and Inspector General of Police Razarudin Husain were part of the Malaysian delegation led by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to the United Nations
...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly...
General Assembly in New York. Contacted by BenarNews, Razarudin deferred to the home minister.

Malaysians Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, along with Indonesian Encep Nurjaman, also known as Hambali

Why?

Bin Amin’s lead attorney, Christine Funk, declined to comment when asked by BenarNews about the significance of the move and whether it might pave the way for his departure from Guantanamo.

Bin Lep’s lawyer, Brian Bouffard, could not be reached for comment. But Nurjaman’s attorney, James Hodes, said he expected bin Lep’s case would also be "severed" from his client’s.

"That’s merely my understanding," he told BenarNews on Monday, while adding he did not know for sure.

Hodes said he did not expect either Malaysian defendant to attend the next sessions, scheduled for Oct. 16 to 27 on the court calendar. A court administrator told BenarNews the sessions would likely be cut to one week..

Hodes said Hambali was "happy on the one hand" that it appeared his co-defendants could be returning to Malaysia.

"He’s hoping that will be the end result for him as well," Hodes said.

’READY TO TAKE THEM’
The three Southeast Asians appeared in court for the first time in 2021 for a two-day arraignment hearing, but there has been little progress since then, largely due to defense attorneys’ concerns over poor translation services, and a lack of evidence provided to them.

On Monday, counter terrorism analyst Ahmad El-Muhammady of the International Islamic University of Malaysia told BenarNews that he believed the Malaysian government was working on a potential deal for the return of both bin Amin and bin Lep.

"This is the way forward and to meet the humanitarian rights perspective. They have been under detention for 20 years," he told BenarNews.

Ahmad, who is an adviser to the Royal Malaysian Police on terrorist rehabilitation programs, said both would need to undergo psychological and ideological assessment should they return home.

"But their return will be a lowkey affair due to the sensitivity of the issue. They also need to be put under rehabilitation programs like the former IS fighters and family who we brought home," he said.

Mohd Mizan Mohammad Aslam, security analyst at the National Defense University of Malaysia, said he would love for bin Amin and bin Lep to be repatriated.

"Let our judiciary system do its best for them. I believe our government is ready to take them and give them an opportunity to come back to our country because they are our people. If they already agree to any kind of consequences, that would be good for them," he told BenarNews.

"They might spend another few years in detention and then be released back into society."

In the past, when former Islamic State

...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allah around with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not really Moslems....
fighters or their family members returned home, they were sent to prison or required to undergo rehabilitation and deradicalization programs, he said. Some had to wear electronic monitoring devices on their ankles for up to two years.

The poor darlings.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Pre-trial hearings resume for SEAsian suspects held at Guantanamo

2023-04-25

[BenarNews] Prosecutors preparing a case against three Southeast Asians incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay will finish sharing evidence with defense attorneys in January 2024, lawyers said Monday, illustrating the glacial pace of progress toward trial for men held at the controversial prison since 2006.

Indonesian Encep Nurjaman (also known as Hambali

...more formally Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep, informally Lillie. He’s one of Hambali’s lieutenants — they were captured together in Thailand in 2003...

and Farik bin Amin

... another Hambali lieutenant, he’s known more formally as Mohd Farik Bin Amin, his nom de guerre was Zubair Zaid and while it’s uncertain whether he was captured with the other two, the three spent years with the same interrogators. His cousin was master bomb maker Zulkifli Abdhir, called Marwan, who provided senior management and work product for the Kumpulan Mujahidin Malaysia, Jemaah Islamiyah, and the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters until he intersected a hail of Philippine bullets in 2015...

were present in the courtroom at the U.S. military facility in Cuba for proceedings witnessed by news hounds via video link to Fort Meade, a military base about an hour northeast of Washington. The men face charges linked to terrorist bombings in Indonesia in 2002 and 2003.

Lead prosecutor Col. George C. Kraehe said his team was seeking to "get this case tried on the merits by March 2025."

Earlier, Brian Bouffard, who represents bin Lep, questioned the government’s pace in presenting evidence to the defense teams. Lawyers for bin Amin and Nurjaman raised similar issues.

"We are trying to uncover the reasons for delay after delay after delay," Bouffard told the court.

Military Judge Hayes C. Larsen noted the defense concerns about late filings.

Kraehe said his team was working to gather evidence for the trial, adding that it was working on this even during the hearing.

"This is not unusual in a national security case," he said.

Kraehe said that about 90% of the evidence had been turned over to the defense, and the remaining 10% was highly classified. Because of that, steps need to be taken before it is turned over to defense, he said, adding that he expected to finish doing so by late January 2024.

Referred to as "alien unprivileged enemy belligerents" in some court documents, Nurjaman, bin Amin and bin Lep face charges related to twin bombings that killed 202 people in Bali in October 2002 — Indonesia’s deadliest terror attack to date — and a bombing at the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta in 2003.

Following their 2003 arrests in Thailand, the three were sent to secret CIA black sites before being moved to the Guantanamo Bay prison in 2006. A U.S. Senate report released in 2014 found that each was tortured during his time in the black sites.

INTERPRETATION ISSUES
Monday’s hearing — the first of three days scheduled — began with prosecutors questioning Larsen, who will be leaving the bench in June to assume command of the Navy’s Defense Service Office West. He said he did not have any information about who would take over the trial.

Twenty minutes into the hearing, Bouffard and Christine Funk, who represents bin Amin, complained — as they have done throughout the legal process — of inadequate translation services, saying their clients were hearing Bahasa Indonesia interpretation instead of their national language, Bahasa Malaysia.

Later, the two lawyers told Larsen that English words were being intermixed with the translations.

"It’s a tired refrain," Larsen responded, dismissing the complaint.

During their two-day August 2021 arraignment, lawyers for the three men spent much of the time protesting before Larsen regarding the poor quality of interpreting.

Larsen ordered military prosecutors to hire and assign qualified interpreters for any upcoming court action.

Link

India-Pakistan

US transfers two Guantanamo Bay detainees to Pakistan

2023-02-24

[GEO.TV] The United States has transferred two brothers from the Guantanamo Bay US detention facility in Cuba to Pakistain, bringing the total number of people held at Guantanamo down to 32, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

The Guantanamo camp was established by Republican President George W Bush in 2002 to house foreign terrorism suspects following the 2001 hijacked plane attacks on New York and the Pentagon that killed about 3,000 people.

It came to symbolise the excesses of the US "war on terror" because of harsh interrogation methods that critics have said amounted to torture.

There were 40 detainees when President Joe The Big Guy Biden
Joe <q>The Big Guy</q> Biden

...46th president of the U.S. The nincompoop who dumped Afghanistan. The copier doesdn't exist that could reelect him....
, a Democrat, took office in 2021. Biden has said he hopes to close the facility. The federal government is barred by law from transferring Guantanamo detainees to US mainland prisons.

On Thursday, the Pentagon announced the repatriation of Abdul Rabbani and Mohammed Rabbani to Pakistain.

Both were arrested in 2002. Abdul Rabbani was an al-Qaeda controller while Mohammed Rabbani was a financial and travel controller for prominent al-Qaeda leaders, according to the Pentagon's website.

"The United States appreciates the willingness of the Government of Pakistain and other partners to support ongoing US efforts focused on responsibly reducing the detainee population and ultimately closing the Guantanamo Bay facility," the Pentagon said in a statement.

A total of 32 detainees remain, of whom 18 are eligible for transfer, the Pentagon said in its statement.

Reacting to the development, Senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan of Jamat-e-Islami welcomed their transfer to Pakistain, saying the two brothers were detained without any case.

...no case except being Al Qaeda Big Turbans, but no one objects to that nowadays.

"Another good news. Ahmed Ghulam Rabbani and Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani have reached Islamabad airport after being freed from Guantanamo Bay. They were imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay for 21 years despite being innocent. There was no trial, no court proceedings, no charges against them. Congratulations on their release. Thank you Senate of Pakistain."

Update from Al Monitor at 9:50 p.m. ET — late in the day, but not worth giving you an entire article to read tomorrow, dear Reader:

Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani, 55, and Mohammed Ahmed Ghulam Rabbani, 53, were captured in Karachi, Pakistan, in 2002 and held in CIA custody in Afghanistan before they were transferred to the offshore US prison in Cuba in 2004.

The brothers were born in Saudi Arabia and are ethnically Burmese.

This makes their Pakistani citizenship puzzling, but I suppose if Pakistan wants them, they all deserve to enjoy the result.

Their departure brings the remaining number of detainees at Guantanamo Bay to 32. At its peak in 2003, the prison held nearly 680 prisoners.

Shortly after taking office, the Biden administration said it planned to close the controversial detention center, which opened in 2002 and has since been used to house more than 700 foreign inmates suspected of ties to al-Qaeda or the Taliban. Earlier this month, Pakistani detainee Majid Khan was transferred to Belize following the completion of his sentence.

Intense pushback from Congress prevented former President Barack Obama from making good on a 2008 campaign promise to close Guantanamo, despite an executive order issued on his second day in office.

Former President Donald Trump signed a 2018 executive order to keep it open, citing the risk of recidivism among the prisoners. Just one detainee was released under his administration — a Saudi man who pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges and was transferred to Saudi Arabian custody in 2018 to serve out the remainder of his sentence.

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Home Front: WoT

Pakistani Gitmo prisoner transferred to Belize

2023-02-03

[Dawn] The Biden administration, the guys that caused the debacle in Afghanistan

...knaves, footpads, and adjusters employed by the Biden Crime Family. They leave a trail of havoc everywhere they turn their attention, be it the nation's borders, the Keystone XL Pipeline, or epidemics, sometimes on purpose, most times through sheer arrogant ineptitude. They learnt this stuff in college, you know...
on Thursday transferred a detainee from its Guantanamo Bay prison facility in Cuba to Belize and is preparing to transfer at least two more in the coming weeks. All three are Pak citizens.

Majid Khan left Guantanamo early Thursday and arrived in Belize several hours later. He is the first detainee to be resettled by the Biden administration and one of the few to be sent to a location in the Western Hemisphere.

The other two expected to be released soon are Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani and Mohammad Ahmad Ghulam Rabbani.

Possibly they are in the Rantburg archives under slight different spelling or a different configuration of their names.

"I have been given a second chance in life and I intend to make the most of it," said Khan in a statement issued through his legal team. "I promise all of you, especially the people of Belize, that I will be a productive, law-abiding member of society."

Hopefully he really did have a change of heart instead of spewing taqiyya like squid ink before returning to old habits.

The only known legal US resident at Guantanamo, Khan was born in Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century...
. He was granted asylum in the US in 1998, while attending high school near Baltimore but remained a Pak citizen.

He returned to Pakistain in 2002 and, according to a US Defence Department detainee assessment, joined Al Qaeda and became a direct subordinate to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), Al Qaeda’s senior operational planner and the principal architect of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Khan was arrested in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
in March 2003 and taken to a CIA black site where he was subjected to sleep deprivation, an ice water bath, and forced rectal feeding and rehydration. The chairperson of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Dianne Feinstein
...Dem Senator-for-Life from Caliphornica. She has been a politician since about the time she was weaned. Feinstein was the author of the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban, and tried it a second time in 2012. Feinstein has chaired the Select Committee on Intelligence since 2009. At age 89.53632, Feinstein is the oldest currently serving United States Senator...
, called the treatment torture. In September 2006, then-President George W. Bush announced that Khan was one of 14 "high value detainees" being transferred from CIA detention facilities to Guantanamo Bay to face the military tribunal system.

In 2012, Khan pled guilty to terrorism-related charges and was sentenced to 10 years detention. That sentence ended March 1, 2022. Khan still has family in the US, but US federal law does not allow Guantanamo detainees to be resettled in the country.

Aliya Hussain, an advocacy program manager at the Center for Constitutional Rights, New York, who has worked on Khan’s case for more than a decade, said, "Today did not seem possible when we started. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the unwavering commitment of everyone who has represented Majid."

Update from Wikipedia at 8:30 a.m. ET on the name Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani: alternate names on Guantanamo Bay paperwork: Abdul Al-Rahim Ghulam Rabbani and Abu Rahim Moulana Gulam Rabbani, which are also not in the Rantburg archives. He was born in Mecca approximately 1969 to a Pakistani family that spent many years in Saudi Arabia, at some point joined Al Qaeda and trained in Afghanistan. He and his brother were captured and taken to the CIA black site called the salt pit, then turned over to GITMO in 2004. Under President Obama’s rules for GITMO, Mr. Rabbani was one of 71 prisoners deemed too innocent to charge but too dangerous to release, which makes no sense to me.
Wikipedia on brother Mohammad Ahmad Ghulam Rabbani: Mohammad Ahmad Ghulam Rabbani was born in Medina in 1970, went home to Karachi in the 1990s, where he claims he worked as a driver and guide for visiting Arabs, and claims that this association was the reason the authorities handed him over to the Americans... or possibly it was a case of mistaken identity. That jihadism is often a family affair he could be suspected of does not seem to have occurred to him, and his file accuses him of the same things as he elder brother. He spent two years with his brother at various CIA black sites before being sent with him to GITMO in 2004.

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Guantanamo court sets pre-trial hearing for suspects in Bali bombings

2022-08-23

[BenarNews] An Indonesian and two Malaysians who have been incarcerated for more than 15 years at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on terrorism charges linked to the 2002 Bali bombings are scheduled to appear in court for a pre-trial hearing in late October, U.S. defense officials announced Monday.

If all goes to schedule, Indonesian Encep Nurjaman (also known as Hambali

...more formally Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep, informally Lillie. He’s one of Hambali’s lieutenants — they were captured together in Thailand in 2003...

and Farik Bin Amin

will appear in a military court at Guantanamo from Oct. 31 to Nov. 4 — in what would be only their second court appearance since their arrests in Thailand in 2003. Their court hearing will take place a little more than two weeks after the 20th anniversary of the Bali bombings — the deadliest terrorist attack in Indonesia’s history.

When the three were arrested 19 years ago, they were sent to CIA black sites, where they were tortured, before being transferred to the U.S. military prison in Cuba in 2006, according to a 2014 U.S. Senate report.

The military court and the U.S. Department of Defense did not release details of the planned hearing for the three, "all of whom have been charged jointly in connection with their alleged roles in the 2002 and 2003 bombings in Indonesia," in a notice to media interested in covering the proceedings at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo.

The trio first appeared at a military court there during their arraignment in August 2021. At the time, their lawyers lodged a protest before military Judge Hayes Larsen about the poor quality of the audio translations their clients were receiving.

Referred to as "alien unprivileged enemy belligerents" in some court documents, Nurjaman, bin Lep and bin Amin face charges related to twin bombings that killed 202 people in Bali in October 2002 and a bombing at the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta in 2003. None of the men entered a plea to the charges against them following their arraignment last August.

In an effort to improve translations, Larsen ordered military prosecutors to hire and assign qualified interpreters for any upcoming court action.

"The defense teams all indicated they need assurances in order to be able to use their government-provided defense interpreters for attorney-client communications," Larsen wrote in a January court filing ahead of what was supposed to be a pre-trial hearing in late February.

Responding to the judge, prosecutors said in a Feb. 1 filing that they were seeking to hire four full-time interpreters, two for each language.

"Because of the uncertain timeline involved in obtaining clearances for new hires who do not have clearances, it is too speculative to estimate when fully cleared full-time interpreters will be available to assist the commission," they wrote.

James Hodes, who represents Hambali, blasted the prosecutors, noting they had 18 years to prepare their case against his client, which included hiring "qualified commission interpreters."

"This is what you are tasked with and this is what you have failed to provide," he told BenarNews earlier this year while calling the lack of interpreters a "huge obstacle for a fair trial."

Hodes could not immediately be reached on Monday for comment on the proposed court dates.

Link

Home Front: WoT

Lack of Interpreters Impedes Guantanamo Trial for 3 Linked to Indonesia Bombings

2022-02-13

The notorious Hambali and his little friends Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep (Lillie) and Farik Bin Amin (Zubair Zaid). The article names them a couple of paragraphs down.

[BenarNews] Nearly 20 years after three high-profile Southeast Asian terror suspects were arrested and hauled off to CIA "black sites" and then to the infamous U.S. military prison at Guantanamo, their progress toward a trial faces potential delays over a lack of qualified translators.

The problem not only affects due process but illustrates yet another barrier the United States must clear to shut down the facility in Cuba, seen worldwide as a stain on America’s human rights
One man's rights are another man's existential threat.
record, two decades after the first prisoners in the post-9/11 war on terror arrived at Guantanamo Bay in January 2002.

Link

Home Front: WoT

CIA Torture Finally Rebuked, By Military Jury

2021-11-08

[Consotium News] The New York Times reported last week that a military jury at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo issued a sharp rebuke against the C.I.A.’s treatment of al-Qaeda prisoner Majid Khan, calling the Agency’s torture program "a stain on the moral fiber of America."

The jury recommended that Khan receive a 26-year sentence, the shortest possible under the court’s rules. Seven of the eight jurors—all U.S. military officers—then hand-wrote a letter to the military judge urging clemency for Khan.

The sentencing hearing, and Khan’s two hours of graphic testimony, marked the first time that details of the C.I.A. torture program were laid bare in public.

Khan testified that during the course of his interrogations, after he was captured in Pakistan in 2003, he told the C.I.A. "literally everything" he knew. He was truthful with the information, but "the more I told them, the more they tortured me." Khan said that his only alternative was to make up information about threats, anything to get his interrogators to stop torturing him. When the information then didn’t pan out, Khan was tortured yet again.

Link

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