Malaysian terror suspects admit role in 2002 Bali bombings

Two Malaysian terror suspects have pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the 2002 Bali bombings at a US military court in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Mohammed bin Lep.

Two Malaysian terror suspects have pleaded guilty to conspiracy in the 2002 Bali bombings at a US military court in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, more than two decades after they were arrested in Thailand alongside Hambali, the alleged mastermind of Indonesia’s deadliest terror strike.

Mohammed bin Lep, 47, and Mohammed bin Amin, 48, ­pleaded guilty to five charges, but four more charges related to the deadly bombing in 2003 of ­Jakarta’s Marriot Hotel were ­reportedly dropped. The men are scheduled to be sentenced next week.

Their pleas mark a long-­awaited breakthrough in the US military case against the men who are now expected to testify against Hambali, their co-conspirator and the former leader of the Indonesian terror group, Jemaah Islamiyah, behind the attack.

Hambali, whose real name is Encep Nurjaman, will stand trial alone next year on charges of murder, attempted murder and terrorism after the Malaysians struck plea deals last October. He faces a maximum life imprisonment after the death penalty was taken off the table as a result of the torture he experienced in custody.

All three men were arrested in Thailand in 2003 before entering the US rendition program in which they were tortured at CIA black sites for three years, according to a 2014 US Senate report.

They were transferred to Guantanamo Bay’s Camp Justice in 2006 where they remain and gave evidence via videolink on Wednesday (AEST).

Both Malaysians wore traditional tunics and trousers to court and sat mostly silently as proceedings were translated into Malay language, according to the New York Times which watched the hearing from Fort Meade army base in Maryland, outside of Washington DC.

Their lawyers entered guilty pleas on their behalf.

During the proceedings US military judge Wesley Braun put it to the pair that “you intended to kill one or more persons,” to which they replied “yes”.

Judge Braun also confirmed with prosecutors that there was no evidence suggesting bin Lep or bin Amin “acted in a position of command”.

However, both defendants testified that Hambali encouraged them to go to Afghanistan for militant training in 2000 and a year later selected them to carry out a suicide bombing in the US that was ultimately cancelled.

Mohammed bin Amin.

Neither admitting to taking part in the Bali bombing, though both conceded they had returned to Southeast Asia by early 2002 and helped Hambali elude ­capture.

Some 202 people, including 88 Australians, were killed in the ­October 12, 2002 attacks in which a suicide bomber detonated his vest inside Paddy’s Bar in the Kuta nightclub district while a second suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden van to a location near the Sari Club before detonating the bomb.

Twelve people died in the bombing of the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta almost a year later, on August 5, 2003.

The New York Times reported family members of people killed at Bali were expected to arrive at Guantanamo Bay at the weekend ahead of the two men’s sentencing, which will be less than life imprisonment under a plea deal in which they will also likely be ­allowed to serve their sentences in Malaysia.

Jurors will be brought to the base next week and the hearing will resume on Wednesday morning (local time).

Bin Lep and bin Amin were accused of helping Hambali “transfer money for operations, and obtain and store items such as fraudulent identification documents, weapons and instructions on how to make bombs” ­before during and after the Bali and Marriott bombings, according to the statement of ­charges.

In the years after the 9/11 attacks, the two Malaysians and Hambali were among hundreds of suspected Muslim militants arrested by the US across the globe and brought to the naval base in Cuba.

But only 30 inmates remain at Guantanamo after the US government closed down part of the prison.

Next month, Khaled Sheikh Mohammad, the al-Qa’ida operative accused of masterminding the 9/11 attacks and a former close associate of Hambali, will begin pre-trial hearings at Guantanamo alongside several other defendants.