Three Guantánamo Detainees Charged in 2002 Bali Bombing

GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — Three men who person been detained by the United States for 18 years without complaint were formally accused of warfare crimes connected Tuesday arsenic portion of a planetary Qaeda conspiracy that began successful Afghanistan successful 1996 and resulted successful the grisly Bali nightclub bombings successful 2002.

The pb defendant, an Indonesian antheral called Encep Nurjaman, who is known arsenic Hambali, and 2 Malaysian men, Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep and Mohammed Farik Bin Amin, offered nary pleas. No proceedings day was set, and defence lawyers indicated they would question to disqualify the arraignment of their clients arsenic defective due to the fact that of translation problems.

The lawsuit is the archetypal caller prosecution astatine the troubled subject commissions strategy since 2014. It had been dormant for years, the men held arsenic force combatants, until a Trump medication appointee abruptly approved the lawsuit connected the archetypal afloat time of the Biden medication without explanation.

Defense lawyers accidental that imaginable witnesses person died oregon disappeared and that immoderate of the men named arsenic accomplices have been executed successful Indonesia oregon killed successful clashes with information services.

One cardinal issue, the lawyers said, was the find that the pistillate who served arsenic the court’s authoritative translator of Bahasa Indonesian had remarked past twelvemonth that “the authorities is wasting wealth connected these terrorists; they should person been killed a agelong clip ago.” Defense lawyers called her biased and sought to halt the proceeding, which was already delayed for six months due to the fact that of the coronavirus pandemic.

But the Navy judge, Cmdr. Hayes C. Larsen, presiding successful his archetypal subject committee case, ruled that the Pentagon-paid translators were “qualified” and “certified” by warfare tribunal office and truthful what the defendants heard successful their headsets was sound.

Brian Bouffard, a lawyer representing Mr. Bin Lep, disagreed. He said, for starters, that the translations were truthful flawed that helium had “no confidence” that the defendants understood the process, and that helium had nary trustworthy interpreter to assistance him.

Mr. Bin Lep recovered the translation of the proceedings into his archetypal language, Malay, truthful inscrutable that helium switched to his 2nd language, Bahasa, and listened to the charges against him translated by “someone who we cognize would person liked it if helium was summarily executed years ago,” Mr. Bouffard said.

The defence lawyers had already refused to enactment with their teams’ Defense Department declaration linguists, translators who had been vetted by the authorities to person top-secret information clearances and assistance them pass with the prisoners. All 3 defendants were held by the C.I.A. successful the aboriginal years of their detention and were tortured, according to the lawyers, who said they did not spot that the government’s prime of linguists would support their conversations confidential.

“They’ve had 18 years to get america translators and interpreters for these guys,” said James Hodes, Mr. Hambali’s pb lawyer. “But the strategy is truthful flawed.”

Understand the Taliban Takeover successful Afghanistan

The lawsuit is complex, charging murder, terrorism, attacking civilians and conspiracy. The charges formed 2 bombings successful Indonesia successful 2002 and 2003 arsenic acts of warfare by a Qaeda affiliate aft the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. On a Saturday nighttime successful Bali successful October 2002, suicide bombers struck at 2 fashionable nightspots, Paddy’s Pub and the Sari Club, sidesplitting much than 200 people, mostly Australians and Indonesians arsenic good arsenic 7 Americans.

In a sweeping complaint sheet, which an Air Force authoritative work aloud successful English for astir 95 minutes Tuesday, Mr. Hambali was described arsenic ordering recruits to his Jemaah Islamiyah question to crippled bombings of “bars, cafes oregon nightclubs frequented by ‘Westerners’ successful Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand” successful precocious 2001 and aboriginal 2002. It besides described Mr. Hambali arsenic truthful alert of what would hap successful Bali that helium arranged to rent a edifice country successful beforehand to ticker the quality connected CNN.

The charges did not straight necktie the Malaysian defendants to the Bali bombing. Instead, they were described arsenic associates of Mr. Hambali who trained successful Qaeda camps successful Afghanistan and, astatine his direction, conducted surveillance successful 1999 of different U.S., Israeli and tourer targets successful Southeast Asia for plots that ne'er took place. They were besides accused of helping him elude seizure by securing fake documents, weapons and safe-house lodging.

Mr. Bin Lep and Mr. Bin Amin are besides accused of hiding $50,000 astatine their flat successful Bangkok that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 attacks, sent for follow-on attacks successful 2002. Prosecutors suggested it was utilized to money a car bombing astatine a Marriott hotel successful Jakarta, Indonesia, successful August 2003, sidesplitting 11 radical and wounding astatine slightest 80 others.

By then, Mr. Bin Amin had been arrested. The different 2 men would soon beryllium detained, and similar him, walk much than 3 years successful concealed C.I.A. prisons earlier President George W. Bush had them transferred to subject custody astatine Guantánamo Bay with Mr. Mohammed and 10 different alleged high-value detainees.