26 September 2012 | last updated at 11:59PM
Malaysian Gitmo detainees not coming home yet
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians who were held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camps did not make the list of the 55 prisoners who have been approved for transfer to the custody of other countries.
It is understood that more than one-third of the prisoners in the list of names which was made public on Friday by the United States Justice Department were from Yemen. The prisoners were not sent back to their home country as the US believed it was not stable enough to prevent them from potentially resuming militant activity. Federal Special Task Force (Operations and Counter Terrorism) director Datuk Mohamad Fuzi Harun yesterday said at the moment two Malaysians were held at the camp.
"They are Mohd Farik Amin @ Zubair and Mohd Nazir Lep @ Lillie who have been held there since 2006," he said.
Fuzi said the government had made a request to the US for the duo to be sent back for rehabilitation early this year but it was rejected.
"We were told that the two were expected to be charged by a military tribunal there, but they could not give us the exact date," said Fuzi.
The government will make another request soon for the two to be sent home. The 36-year-old Farik and Nazir, 35, were arrested in Thailand in August 2003 along with Hambali @Riduan Isamuddin. All three were classified as top al-Qaeda operatives by the US. In 2006, Farik, Nazir and Hambali were transferred to Guantanamo Bay where they had been detained since. Farik was from Kajang, Selangor while Nazir, 35, was from Muar, Johor.
Since 2009, 40 camp detainees have been resettled in new countries, while 28 were repatriated to their native countries. The Guantanamo Bay detention centre was opened on Jan 11, 2002 with 20 detainees. The number had increased since. On Jan 11 this year, the centre "celebrated" its 10th anniversary with 171 detainees still being held. US president Barack Obama announced he would close the centre within a year of taking office, but his efforts were thwarted by Congress.
