Hambali co-conspirators strike Bali bombing plea agreements

Alleged Bali bombing mastermind Hambali will stand trial alone on charges of murder, attempted murder and terrorism after his two Malaysian co-conspirators struck plea deals on war crimes charges.

Alleged Bali bombing mastermind Hambali.

Alleged Bali bombing mastermind Hambali will stand trial alone on charges of murder, attempted murder and terrorism after his two Malaysian co-conspirators struck plea deals on war crimes charges related to the 2002 terrorist attack and a deadly strike a year later on the Jakarta Marriott hotel.

Mohammed Farik Bin Amin, 48, and Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep, 46, have been held for 20 years alongside Hambali, 59 – a former leader of the Indonesian Jemaah Islamiah terror group ­alleged to have carried out the attack – first in the CIA’s secret prisons network and in Guantanamo Bay since 2004.

The two men – who are accused of acting as money couriers and providing support to the Indonesian militant – were charged with Hambali in 2021 of planning, aiding and abetting “in conduct that resulted in the bombing of nightclubs in Bali, Indonesia, in 2002 and the bombing of a JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2003”.

Some 202 people were killed in the Bali bombing, including 88 Australians, while 12 people died in the Marriott blast, with many more injured.

Both men were to have been tried before a US military commission alongside Hambali.

But new court filings submitted by their lawyers last week have revealed their cases will now be heard separately from that of lead defendant Hambali, whose real name is Encep Nurjaman.

Bin Amin is scheduled to enter a plea on January 15, though details of the deal – including whether he will testify against Hambali and where he might serve a prison sentence – have been sealed.

Any sentence is expected to involve undergoing a mandatory deradicalisation program for Muslim extremists in Malaysia.

Bin Amin was the first to separate his case from Hambali’s last month in a move that avoids a trial and speeds up sentencing.

But last week’s court filings show Bin Lep’s case has also now been spun-off from his main co-conspirator, though it is not yet known when he will enter a plea.

His lawyer Brian Bouffard told The New York Times: “Mr Bin Lep will fully co-operate with the US government.” Bin Amin’s lawyer, Christine Funk, declined to discuss the deal though both defendants are scheduled to appear at the war court this week for preliminary hearings. Hambali, the most wanted terrorist in Southeast Asia until his 2003 capture in Thailand with Bin Lep and Bin Amen, is also scheduled to appear before the court in a separate hearing.

The former close associate of 9/11 al-Qa’ida mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and JI founder Abu Bakar Bashir now faces a solo trial on charges of murder, terrorism and conspiracy.

However, with the death penalty off the table – as a result of the torture he experienced in custody – he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.

The Australian was unable to reach James Hode, the US lawyer acting for Hambali, in time for publication though he has expressed concern prosecutors might try to use the pleas of his former Malaysian co-conspirators at his client’s trial.

Any attempt by prosecutors to record testimony from the two Malaysians and then repatriate them beyond the reach of the court could prejudice his client.