Malaysians in Guantanamo return after nearly 20 years

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PETALING JAYA: The two Malaysians who pleaded guilty in January this year to conspiracy in the 2002 Bali bombings have returned to Malaysia, after nearly 20 years at the US’s Guantanamo Bay detention centre.

Home minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the unity government received Nazir Lep and Farik Amin from the US “on the principles of human rights and support for universal justice”.

He added that the pair had been held at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre since 2006.

“The government has formulated a comprehensive reintegration programme specifically for the pair, which will cover support in terms of social services, welfare, and health screenings,” he said in a statement.


Nazir, 47, and Farik, 48, had been held in solitary confinement since their arrest by US authorities in Thailand in 2003 in connection with the Bali bombings the previous year.

In January, they were sentenced to 23 years in prison by a jury after pleading guilty to their role in the bombings under a pre-trial agreement. Under the agreement, they could be released after five years and repatriated to a third country.

Both men pleaded guilty to conspiring with the “mastermind” Indonesian Encep Nurjaman, also known as Hambali, to commit the Bali bombings in 2002 which killed 202 people.

Earlier today, Washington said US secretary of defense Lloyd Austin had notified Congress last month of his intention to repatriate Nazir and Farik.

The Guantanamo Bay detention centre was set up in 2002 to detain terrorist suspects after the attack on the Twin Towers in New York a year earlier.

source: FreeMalaysiaToday