Three prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention center are set to begin their long-awaited arraignments on Monday.
The men have been charged with murder, conspiracy, and terrorism for their alleged roles in the bombing of Paddy’s Pub and the Sari Club in Bali, as well as the 2003 J.W. Marriott hotel bombing in Jakarta, Indonesia. These three events killed a total of 213 civilians, including seven Americans. They injured another 109 victims, including six Americans, according to the Associated Press.
Malaysians Mohammed Nazir Lep and Mohammed Farik Amin and Indonesian Encep Nurjaman, also known as Hambali, have been kept at the detention center since 2006 and have waited 18 years for a day in court.
The men were captured in 2003 and brought to a CIA “black site” for three years where they were tortured, according to a Senate Intelligence Committee report released in 2014. They were transferred from the black site to Guantanamo Bay in 2006 and were held for an additional 15 years.
18 YEARS LATER, A TRIAL DATE IS SET FOR 9/11 MASTERMINDS — IN 2021
Nazir and Farik face nine charges, while Hambali faces eight, according to Malaysian news organization the Star.
Waiting years for a trial is not uncommon at similar detention centers, with 39 men tied to the 9/11 attack remaining at the military prison.
The amount of time it took for the case to arrive in court and the fact that several people in Indonesia have already been convicted for their ties to the bombings threatens to make the trial a complicated process.
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Christine Funk, the lawyer for Amin, told the Associated Press that she expects a long investigation from the defense that requires travel once the pandemic has ended. But she added her client remains “anxious and eager to litigate this case and go home.”
The charges were filed under former President Donald Trump’s presidency and complicate President Joe Biden’s attempt to close the prison.
