By The Straits Times | Created at 2024-12-18 15:24:37 | Updated at 2024-12-18 17:46:09
2 hours ago
KUALA LUMPUR – The two Malaysian men who were repatriated after spending nearly 20 years in prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, would be given a second chance to reintegrate themselves into society, Malaysia’s Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Razarudin Husain said on Dec 18.
Tan Sri Razarudin said Mohammed Farik Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep were in good health and had been reunited with their families
“The Home Ministry has instructed for them to undergo assessment and enter a comprehensive rehabilitation phase before being reintegrated into society,” said IGP Razarudin.
He said the two men were handed over by the US authorities on Dec 18.
“They were grateful that they could return to Malaysia and eventually to their families,” IGP Razarudin said in a statement. “They also stated their strong commitment to become progressive members of society.”
“Everyone deserves a second chance, and we will ensure they receive such an opportunity,” he said.
Before they left, the men gave sworn testimony that prosecutors hope will be useful in the eventual trial of Encep Nurjaman, the Indonesian prisoner known as Hambali.
Hambali is accused of being the mastermind of the Bali bombing and other terrorist attacks in 2002 and 2003 as a leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah movement.
The men admitted to being accessories to the terror attack, after the fact, by helping Hambali elude capture.
All three men were held for years after their capture in Thailand in the US Central Intelligence Agency’s secret prison network that used torture in its interrogations.
They were transferred to the military prison in Cuba in 2006, but the military did not formally charge them at the war court until 2021.
Mr Brian Bouffard, a lawyer who represented Bin Lep at Guantánamo, said his client “plans to live a quiet life with his family”.
“He’s been punished many times over for his long-ago involvement with the wrong people, and we hope one day that his torturers and their enablers might face accountability for the evil they have done in our name.” said Mr Bouffard.
The two men admitted to training at Al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in 2000 and agreeing to become suicide bombers.
Instead, upon their return to South-east Asia, they ran errands for Hambali and acted as couriers for funds that were traced to suspected accomplices in the bombings in the resort of Bali on Oct 12, 2002, that killed 202 people, most of them Australian. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
