A military panel at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba has recommended a 23-year prison sentence for two Malaysian men involved in the 2002 Bali bombings, according to a spokesman for the military commission. The recommendation follows guilty pleas made earlier this month by Mohammed Farik Bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep, who are longstanding detainees at Guantanamo.
This conviction is a relatively rare occurrence in the two decades of proceedings conducted by the U.S. military commission at Guantanamo. Ronald Flesvig, the spokesman for the Guantanamo military commission, confirmed the sentencing recommendations put forth by the panel.
The bombings, carried out by the extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah, resulted in the deaths of 202 Indonesians, foreign tourists, and others in simultaneous attacks on nightspots in Bali. Although the two defendants denied any involvement or prior knowledge of the attacks, they admitted to conspiring over time with the militant network responsible as part of their plea bargains.
Approval from the senior military authority overseeing Guantanamo is required for the sentence recommendation to be finalized. Out of the 780 detainees brought to Guantanamo under the George W. Bush administration's 'war on terror' following the September 11, 2001 attacks, there have only been a limited number of convictions over the years. According to the advocacy group Reprieve, there have been a total of eight.
Notably, defendants involved in major attacks, including those involved in the 9/11 attacks, are still undergoing pretrial hearings. Prosecutors are seeking negotiated agreements to resolve these cases and bring closure to them. The military commission trials have faced numerous challenges, including logistical difficulties, frequent changes in personnel, and legal questions surrounding the treatment of detainees during their time in CIA custody in the early years of their detention.
Currently, only about 30 detainees remain at Guantanamo, and approximately half of them have been cleared for transfer if a willing and stable country is willing to accept them. As part of their plea bargains, the two Malaysian men have agreed to provide testimony against another Guantanamo detainee, an Indonesian man known as Hambali, regarding his involvement in the Bali bombings.
During a hearing held prior to the sentencing, relatives of the victims who were killed in the Bali bombings testified, with the two accused seated in the courtroom, attentively listening. Matthew Arnold from Birmingham, England, whose brother was among the victims, emphasized the wide-ranging impact of the atrocity.
There have been reports in the Malaysian media suggesting that authorities in Malaysia are seeking the transfer of the two detainees back to their home country. The United States has held them at Guantanamo since 2006.
