The alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings will face trial in Guantanamo Bay in September, about 22 years after he was captured.
Encep Nurjaman, also known as Hambali, was the alleged leader of the Indonesian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah — the Southeast Asian affiliate of Al-Qaeda.
The group were responsible for the 2002 bombings of nightclubs in Bali, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians, and the 2003 bombing of the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, which killed 12 people.
Nurjaman and two other men were arrested in Thailand in 2003 before being held in a secret CIA prison network for three years.
The trio were transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2006.
The US Department of Defence has announced pre-trial proceedings for Nurjaman will take place over two weeks from September 8.
A military commission will conduct proceedings at the Expeditionary Legal Complex in the Naval Station Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Nurjaman is facing a series of serious charges, which were laid by the US in 2021.
The US Department of Defence said these included “conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, intentionally causing serious bodily injury, terrorism, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, destruction of property, and accessory after the fact, all in violation of the law of war”.
The pair pleaded guilty and testified against Nurjaman.
The US Department of Defence announced that they will be sent to Malaysia to spend another five years in prison.
According to the UN Security Council, Nurjaman has a “long track record” of involvement in terrorist activities and first met the founders of Jemaah Islamiyah in the 1980s.
He then reportedly travelled to Afghanistan to train and fight with several Al-Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden, before returning to Indonesia in the early 1990s.
He had been wanted by authorities in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the US.
