Bali bombing ‘mastermind’ Hambali could escape trial if repatriated to Indonesia

After almost two decades inside Guantanamo Bay, Indonesia wants to repatriate alleged Bali bombings terror plotter Hambali – but that may end with him never being put on trial.

A move to repatriate accused Bali bombing mastermind Hambali may end with him never being put on trial.

Encep Nurjaman, known as Hambali, has been a Guantanamo Bay prisoner since 2006 and is set to face trial this year after multiple delays.

In a dramatic move, Indonesia has reportedly offered the Trump administration the option to take Hambali off their hands after he is put on trial for multiple terror charges.

But terror expert Professor Greg Barton said it could also leave the door open to Indonesia handling his case if the Trump administration decides to shut down Guantanamo Bay.

Hambali, a former Jemaah Islamiah terror leader, is also suspected of involvement in the September 11 attacks in New York and financing the Jakarta Marriott Hotel bombing in 2003.

The Indonesian-born man was arrested in Thailand in 2003 and held in CIA black sites before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2006.

Suspected Bali terrorist funder and organiser Hambali in custody at Guantanamo Bay. Picture: Supplied

He is one of 27 prisoners who remain detained by the United States military prison, which was set up in 2002 to hold terrorism suspects.

Prof Barton said he did not believe repatriating Hambali posed a national security risk to Australia.

“This has been in the pipeline for the past three or four years,’’ Prof Barton said.

“Ever since the Americans picked him up and rushed him off to Guantanamo, the Indonesians have been saying ‘when can we get access to him? He’s our national, we need to learn from him about any intelligence he has’.

“Later on it became about concerns about fair trial allegations and, of course, torture in Guantanamo …

“There’s long been a buzz saying, as an Indonesian national, he really should face justice in Indonesia.

“He would have to remain in some sort of secure detention.’’

The damage caused by one of the 2002 Bali car bomb explosions.

Prof Barton said Hambali had not been able to publicly express remorse but, if he was defiant, he could not see how he could be repatriated.

He said because of Indonesia’s statute of limitations surrounding prosecuting Hambali, the Indonesian government would need to change its law to put the accused terrorist on trial there.

“Hambali is an unusual case because we’ve never really heard all the details of the charges against him, but the evidence we have is pretty compelling that he was early on liaising with some of Osama bin Laden’s closest associates.

“He was (allegedly) behind church bombings in 2000 and was very hands on (in) recruiting operations, including the Bali bombings.

“So he’s about as big a fish as you can imagine, which is why the Americans took him away straight away and why he’s been in Guantanamo Bay ever since.’’

Prof Barton said Australians would be rightly outraged if Hambali was never prosecuted and released.

“People would be understandably outraged if he was somehow seen to be in any way pardoned or forgiven,’’ he said.

Forensic police officers and the wreckage of a car outside of the Sari Club nightclub in Kuta which was destroyed by a car bomb in 2002. Pic. AFP

And he said it was a “good thing’’ if Hambali was not executed as three of his co-accused were in 2008 for carrying out the attacks on the Sari nightclub and Paddy’s Bar. 

Prof Barton said that, considering the fact that Hambali had not faced natural justice at Guantanamo Bay in almost two decades, there would be a risk that a minority of people in Indonesia would consider him a martyr if he were to be executed now.

Talk of the potential repatriation of Hambali comes just weeks after Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto’s administration repatriated five remaining Bali Nine prisoners to Australia, ending their almost two decades behind bars in Indonesian for drug smuggling. 

The Australian reported Indonesia’s co-ordinating minister for law and human rights, Yusril Ihza Mahendra, has said the statute of limitations on Indonesian cases against Hambali had expired.

“No matter what, Hambali is an Indonesian citizen. No matter how wrong he is … we must care for him,’’ Mr Yusril said.

“The Indonesian government is aware about the sensitivity of this matter and will act carefully.’’

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order in his first term to keep Guantanamo Bay prison open, but also declared the $13 million a year it cost to house each prisoner at the facility in Cuba as “crazy’’.

Hambali’s family say they would prefer he face a US military trial where the death penalty will not be sought, compared to Indonesia where execution is an option.