After 16 years in Guantanamo, will Hambali be tried fairly? | | Prison News

Medan, Indonesia – Nasir Abbas, a former member of the Indonesian strongman Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) describes his colleague Encep Nurjaman as “often Javanese”.

Nurjaman, better known as de guerre Hambali and better known as Riduan Isamuddin, was “polite”, “soft” and “worthy”, Abbas told Al Jazeera, recalling the time when the two men were part of the militia. the most dangerous groups in Southeast Asia.

Hambali and Abbas were both trained to fight in Afghanistan in the 1990’s, before joining the US-based JI, which is considered a terrorist group after the group carried out several terrorist attacks in Indonesia in the early 2000’s, including the bombing. of Bali in 2002., which killed more than 200 people.

He was very talkative and very intelligent. You have no choice but to have a good image of him, ”said Abbas, who joined forces with the arrested authorities and is now working to end the Indonesian government.

The United States did not think so.

Hambali, now 57, has lived for the past 16 years in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, and has been described by former US President George W Bush as “one of the deadliest terrorists in the world”.

Twenty years after the first prisoners were sent to Guantanamo, Hambali is still one of the 39 men still there.

Za 800 arrested Since its inauguration, only 12 people have been charged with felony criminal mischief for firing on a sculpture with a shotgun, according to The Associated Press. One of them is Hambali, who is charged with murder, terrorism and conspiracy.

“The U.S. Government’s view is that the people who live in Guantanamo are often, as well as prosecuted in the military, by a group of so-called illegal militants,” said Michel Paradis, a human rights lawyer, national security law. specialist and lecturer at Columbia Law School in New York.

“Hambali is an anti-terrorist soldier from a state perspective, so he could be held accountable for his actions.”

In court documents seen by Al Jazeera, the war crimes related to a 2002 bombing in Bali, which affected nightclubs in Kuta district on the island, and the 2003 attack on the JW Marriott Hotel in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, in Indonesia. in which 12 people were killed. Hundreds were injured in Jakarta and Bali.

Hambali will be represented by two Malaysian so-called “helpers” – Mohammed Nazir bin Lep and Mohammed Farik bin Amin – but some have questioned whether he will be able to listen to justice.

“The recurring theme of the Terrorist War has been the promotion of terrorism as an unprecedented and unique event. This is despite the fact that it has been used repeatedly by various groups, movements and governments throughout history,” said Ian Wilson, senior lecturer in politics and security education. at Murdoch University in Australia, told Al Jazeera.

“These”strange ‘ Nature has been used to create mechanisms that undermine or challenge existing laws and rights, including those enshrined in law such as the right to do what is right and to feel innocent. This ‘disparity’ as a result of the terrorist attacks and terrorist attacks has led to a dramatic decline in the rule of law, as well as a dramatic change in the rule of law in democratic countries. ”

Wilson says that Guantanamo Bay is an example of this – a place that Washington sees as a “special state”, as well as somewhere in the United States.

Torture

Imprisoned as Hambali, not only were they denied the legal rights and legitimacy they would have received from US law, but they also denied the rights to Geneva conventions at war trials.

Hambali, through his lawyers, is said to have been brutally tortured after being detained in Thailand in 2003, after which he was allegedly transferred to a secret prison run by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and tortured as part of the agency’s Rendition. , Detention and Interrogation Program (RDI) sometimes referred to as the “torture program”.

Encep Nurjamen, also known as Hambali, on a date photo provided by the Federal Public Defenders Office in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. [File: Federal Public Defender’s Office via AP Photo]

The plan came in the wake of the September 11 attacks in the United States when President Bush acknowledged that some forms of torture could be justified if he could produce intelligence that would prevent further invasion of the country. Under international law, torture is not justified.

According to Hambali’s lawyer, the Indonesian man undressed, deprived himself of food and sleep and stood in a state of shock – such as kneeling on the floor with his hands over his head – for hours as part of the program.

He also said that he was “bound to the wall” – a method of torture by interrogators who put a collar around the prisoner’s neck and hit his head against the wall.

Some Guantanamo detainees have stated that rape and watering he is in prison.

The Senate Intelligence Committee investigated the CIA’s translation program amid ongoing harassment cases in Guantanamo and other black CIA sites around the world.

Published in 2014, the report found that the methods of torture used – the so-called “additional questioning methods” – were inhumane, and did not help to gain intelligence.

Many of the detainees, including Hambali, provided false information to the authorities to prevent the torture, the report said.

“They provided false information to reduce stress … [Hambali] surveyed those who inquired wanting to hear it, “the report said citing a CIA cable.

‘The Worst in the World’

During his time with Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaeda ally, Hambali was described as a “money man”, according to Abbas.

His main responsibility was to collect and distribute funds from many of the organisation’s funders, including former al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, who is believed to have sent money directly to Bali Bombing directly from Hambali.

Hambali is accused of involvement in a 2003 terrorist attack at the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta and a bomb blast in Bali last year, which killed more than 200 people. [File: Weda/EPA]

However, in Abbas’ statement, Hambali agreed with Bin Laden that ordinary people could be beaten by terrorists, which was in stark contrast to other JI factions, many of whom viewed the weapons as a legitimate game.

“We were trained in Afghanistan with military experience and I was not comfortable fighting civilians,” Abbas said.

“I would not allow. No one who participated in the Bombings in Bali was brave enough to ask me anything. They knew I could not condone the massacre. Those who accepted it were wrong, and I told them. ”

Three of the bombers in Bali were sentenced to death in Indonesia by killed, while a fourth convict, Ali Imron, was sentenced to life imprisonment for apologizing and showing remorse.

Imron has been claiming that Hambali had no knowledge of the plot.

Twenty years after the bombing – the worst attack in Southeast Asia – Abbas says he sees his former friend returned to Indonesia to face charges.

This is the view that Indonesian human rights lawyer Ranto Sibarani says the Indonesian government should negotiate to return home.

“No matter how serious the charges against Hambali are, he is still an Indonesian citizen who should be protected according to the law,” Sibarani told Al Jazeera in August.

Paradis stated: “That is the most important question that the case will ever face. “Does the United States have the power to prosecute him? Terrorism is not a war crime.”

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice and Security described the war as “fair, efficient and legitimate”.

“Military committees have been used by the United States to prosecute people who have violated military law for more than two centuries,” he said in a statement.

Indonesia has prosecuted some suspected bombers in Bali, and sentenced three people to death. Fourth, Ali Imron (pictured) was given a life sentence for apologizing and showing remorse [File: Widhia/EPA]

No date has been set for Hambali’s trial, but many are hopeful that the legal process will go well once the commission begins.

“The war crimes lawsuit is very serious and the laws were tampered with by the CIA,” Quinton Temby, an assistant professor of political science at Monash University in Indonesia, told Al Jazeera.

“It’s the worst thing in the world: the victims are not being held accountable and the families of victims do not feel that they are being held accountable in court.”