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Bali bombing
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Bali bombing: Malaysian accused could get plea deal, but ‘unclear’ if he can leave Guantanamo Bay

  • Mohammed Farik bin Amin is one of three men accused of killing more than 200 people, most of them on the Indonesian island of Bali in 2002
  • New court documents indicate a step forward, amid speculation Farik may give inaccurate evidence against his fellow defendants to ‘go home’

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A flag flies at half-staff at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. Over the years, there has been a push to transfer detainees, with each one costing some US$13 million annually. Transfers often come about through plea deals. Photo: AP
Aisyah Llewellyn
A Malaysian man accused of being involved in the deadly Bali bombings in Indonesia in 2002, and held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba for the past 20 years, has severed his case from his co-accused, potentially signalling that a plea deal could soon be reached.
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According to US court documents filed last week, 48-year-old Mohammed Farik bin Amin will now no longer be tried in a military court alongside two other detainees, Mohammed Nazir bin Lep – who is also from Malaysia – and Indonesian national Encep Nurjaman, better known as Hambali. All three men have been detained at Guantanamo since 2004. If Farik takes a plea deal, he will avoid a trial of any kind and will be sentenced on paper.

The three men are accused of murder, terrorism and conspiracy related to the Bali blasts that left 202 people dead and injured a further 200, as well as the JW Marriott hotel bombings in 2003 in Jakarta that killed 11 people.

A nightclub destroyed by a bomb blast in Kuta, Bali on October 13, 2002. Photo: AP
A nightclub destroyed by a bomb blast in Kuta, Bali on October 13, 2002. Photo: AP

While this month’s court filings do not specifically mention a plea deal or terms that could potentially be reached as a result, the severing of Farik’s case from his co-defendants appears to indicate a step forward, after the men were formally charged back in 2021.

The three were arrested in Thailand in 2003 and tortured at CIA black sites before being moved to Guantanamo Bay in 2004, according to a 2014 Senate Intelligence Committee report known colloquially as the Torture Report.

“I think that 22 years after September 11, it should still shock us that these cases have not been resolved,” said Judith Jacob, the director of geopolitical risk and security intelligence at risk management company Forward Global.

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“It is too early to say if a plea deal will come to fruition and additionally what will happen to Mohammed Nazir bin Lep and Hambali, but even with a successful plea deal, it is unclear if Mohammed Farik bin Amin gets repatriated to Malaysia or has to remain in custody at Guantanamo.”

06:18

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