The U.S. has officially charged two Malaysians and an Indonesian over bombings in Jakarta and Bali nearly two decades ago.
Mohammed Nazir Lep, 44, from Johor and Mohamad Farik Amin, 45, from Selangor were said to be the two lieutenants who had reported to Indonesian Riduan Isamuddin, 56, when bombings took place in Bali in 2002 and Jakarta in the following year.
Also known as “Hambali,” Riduan, alleged to be the former military leader of terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, was the Indonesian being charged by the U.S, according to the Department of Defense, or DOD, yesterday.
“The referred charges allege that he and the co-accused planned, aided and abetted in a course of conduct that resulted in the bombing of nightclubs in Bali, Indonesia in 2002 and the bombing of a J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia in 2003,” DOD said in its statement. They have been accused under the Military Commissions Act.
“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,” it added. The three of them have been detained at the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba for 14 years.
The charges against the trio came weeks after Indonesia freed Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir from prison after he completed his sentence. He was believed to have inspired the attacks.
A total of 202 people, including foreign tourists, died in Bali in 2002 after bombs blew up some of the island’s popular nightclubs. Twelve people died in Jakarta the following year after bombs exploded at the hotel.
The trio were arrested in Thailand.
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