US not seeking death for Guantanamo detainee in Bali bombing

Baker said he would be submitting a request for additional resources to “effectively represent” Hambali but the decision to not seek the death penalty means he will not have to find experienced capital attorneys. Such lawyers are typically civilians.

A Department of Defence spokesman, Air Force Maj. Ben Sakrisson, declined comment because the charges had not yet been forwarded to the convening authority.

There are two military commission death penalty cases pending at Guantanamo and both have been bogged down for years in pretrial litigation. One case involves five men charged with planning and aiding the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack. The other is for the alleged mastermind of the deadly October 2000 bombing attack on the USS Cole in Yemen. Both have stalled largely due to issues related to the fact that the defendants were held for years in clandestine CIA facilities and subjected to treatment now widely regarded as torture.

Any trial of Hambali, whose full name is Encep Nurjamen, would involve similar issues. The 53-year-old Indonesian was also held by the CIA and also subjected to what the U.S. government has called its “enhanced” interrogation program.

He is accused of being the “operational mastermind” of the Southeast Asia-based Islamic extremist group known as Jemaah Islamiyah, an affiliate of al-Qaida. Charging documents provided to The Associated Press allege he orchestrated the Bali bombings, whose death toll included seven U.S. citizens, as well as an August 2003 attack on the J.W. Marriott hotel in Jakarta, which killed 11 people, and other plots.

Hambali is one of 41 prisoners still held at Guantanamo. If the case against him moves forward, he would be the first charged since President Donald Trump took office.

Ben Fox, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

US not seeking death for Guantanamo detainee in Bali bombing

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