As widely reported in the international media, including the Sydney Morning Herald, US prosecutors are updating surviving family members of Bali’s horrific 2002 Bali bombing regarding the ongoing legal proceeding against Encep “Hambali” Nurjaman, who investigators claim led the terrorists who killed 202 people and injured another 209 when two Bali nightspots were bombed on 12 October 2002.
Encep “Hambali” Nurjaman, also known as Riduan Isamuddin, is the former military chief of the Indonesian terrorist organization Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). He is generally credited with acting as the mastermind of the murderous 2002 Bali Bomb attack that destroyed The Sari Club and Paddy’s Bar. Three JI members who participated directly in the terrorist attack, Amrozi, Mukhlas, and Iman Samudera, were executed before a firing squad on Nusakambangan Island in November 2008.
Hambali was arrested on 11 August 2003 in Thailand and held briefly in Jordan before being imprisoned by the CIA at Guantanamo, Cuba. As prosecutors have now explained, Hambali’s trial has been postponed for more than two decades due to legal complications linked to the Indonesian’s torture in Guantanamo by the CIA.
US prosecutors have informed Australians that Hambali’s trial could begin in July of 2027, but may be postponed again due to legal complications because of the use of torture by his US captors in order to elicit information from the JI leader.
Amid calls to close Guantanamo Bay by legally disposing of Hambali, one of the few remaining detainees, prosecutor have declared their intention to demand 202 life sentences – one for each victim of the Bali bombing. If convicted, Hambali would spend the rest of his life as a prisoner of America at Guantanamo Bay,
Now, some 24 years after the Bali bombing, Hambali is a bespeckled, gray-haired, middle-aged man with a beard.
Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, former cohorts of Hambali, have now turned coats and provided evidence against their former boss. They have been given reduced sentences in return for their cooperation with US prosecutors in convicting Hanbali.
In preparing their case against Hambali, prosecutors will also employ evidence connected to Australian terrorist Jack Roach, who died in detention in his home country for conspiring to blow up the Israeli Embassy in Canberra.
Sari Club Bombing Scene
Information on the developing prosecution was provided by US prosecutors via a group Zoom conference call with surviving family members of the Bali bombing.
US prosecutors are seeking to convict Hambali for his role in global terrorism in Bali and elsewhere.
Prosecutors predict that when Hambali is brought to trial, the proceedings could last between 5 weeks and 2 months.
There are some, however, who doubt Hambali will ever come to trial. Yumma Rizvi, an analyst from the Center for Victims of Torture, said the prosecution has been undermined and tainted by evidence obtained via torture. Under international law, evidence obtained from torture is not inadmissible.
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