Asia's top terror suspect, the al-Qaida linked Islamic militant Hambali, was put on trial in absentia Tuesday along with other suspects on charges of attempted murder in an alleged plot to bomb targets in Cambodia. Hambali is in U.S. custody at an undisclosed location after his arrest in Thailand in August. Two other foreigners, identified only as Rousha Yasser and Ibrahim, were also being tried in absentia while four suspects were in court Tuesday. The four suspects in court — Esam Mohammed Khidr Ali of Egypt, Abdul Azi Haji Chiming and Muhammad Yalaludin Mading of Thailand, and Cambodian national Sman Ismael — were arrested in May and June 2003 for alleged links with Jemaah Islamiyah, al-Qaida's Southeast Asian arm. The charges of attempted murder and terrorism carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. The four denied the charges Tuesday and said they were doing charity work in Cambodia.
| "Nope. Nope. Wudn't us. We wuz doin' charity work." |
Police accused the four of using a Saudi-funded school outside the capital Phnom Penh as a cover for a terrorist training operation, where they allegedly plotted attacks against the U.S. and British embassies in Cambodia.
Wow, that was quick: A Cambodian court sentenced two Thai Muslims and a Cambodian linked to Southeast Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiah to life in jail Wednesday for plotting to bomb the U.S. and British embassies in Phnom Penh. But it found Egyptian Esam Mohamid Khidr Ali, the director of an Islamic school, not guilty and set him free. It also sentenced Hambali, the suspected JI mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings which killed 202 people and captured in Thailand last year, to life in absentia. The Thais, Chiming Abdul Azi and Muhammadyalludin Mading, and Cambodian Sman Esma El were found guilty of colluding with Hambali, who was handed over to the United States after his capture, to attack the two missions. All three worked for Islamic schools in Cambodia and were arrested in May 2002 ahead of Secretary of State Colin Powell to Cambodia for a regional security meeting. They had pleaded not guilty. | Life in a Cambodian jail, that sounds so...short |
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