KUALA LUMPUR – The Home Ministry has yet to finalise plans to repatriate two Malaysians from the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba.
Its minister, Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, said that the matter is still in the early stages of discussion with the United States government, with the goal of ensuring the safe return of the Malaysian inmates to the country.
“We have just started discussing the matter with the United States. There is no decision yet, (but) we will inform of any updates later.
“On our side, we are still examining their profiles to learn about their latest developments, but (we have) not yet reached the stage where they (two Malaysians) have returned to Malaysia,” he said during the ministry’s Madani programme in Bandar Tun Razak this afternoon.
Asked if the repatriation could create fears of domestic terrorism, Saifuddin declined to elaborate as the ministry is still conducting a detailed study.
“They have been detained since 2003, it is now 2023, I have only been a minister for 10 months, (we are) checking their records on their status as terrorists. Therefore, we do not want to comment on the matter (further),” he said.
The two Malaysians, Mohammed Nazir Lep and Mohammed Farik Amin, are facing eight charges in the US Military Court, including seven related to the twin bombings that killed 202 people in Bali in October 2002, and the bombing of the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in August 2003.
They were detained in Thailand in 2003 and placed in solitary confinement at a secret location run by the US Central Intelligence Agency before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2006.
Meanwhile, citing local media reports, the two individuals were also believed to be linked to al-Qaeda’s plan to destroy the hijacked plane at the 73-story US Bank Tower, also known as the Library Tower in Los Angeles.
The detention centre also houses Indonesian national Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, who has been described as the ‘mastermind for Jemaah Islamiyah’, a Southeast Asian militant group linked to al-Qaeda, and is among those said to be responsible for planning the attack on the US on September 11, 2001. – October 1, 2023