DPM: Strict conditions if Gitmo inmate returns home

NEW YORK: After 10 years of being imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, one of two Malaysian terror suspects may be transferred to a prison back home.

However, Mohamad Bashir Lap must continue to be put under a de-radicalisation programme to ensure he is free of any terror ideology.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said during a meeting here with Lee Wolowsky, the US special envoy on Guantanamo Closure, that he had been informed by the US Periodic Review Board that it was of the view that Mohamad Bashir had repented.

“The board also felt he may be transferred to a Malaysian prison with the condition that the de-radicalisation programme be continued.

“Mohamad Bashir cannot be extradited to Malaysia because he was detained under US laws. However, the transfer move is in line with our efforts to bring our detainees back,” Dr Ahmad Zahid told a press conference here.

Mohamad Bashir and the other Malaysian detainee, Mohd Farik Amin, have been held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp since 2006 for their involvement with the Jemaah Islamiyah militant group in early 2000.

They are also alleged to have been involved in the JW Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2003 and were detained in Bangkok that year.

The board had decided on Sept 15 that the two detainees were still a threat to US security.

“The board, by consensus, determined that continued law of war detention of the detainees remains necessary to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of the United States,” Dr Ahmad Zahid said.

He said the board review also stated that if the detainee was transferred, the Malaysian authorities would be ready to accept him and his family members would be “engaged”.

In view of this latest development, Dr Ahmad Zahid will chair a high-level committee comprising representatives from the Home, Foreign and Defence ministries as well as the National Security Council, police, and prisons and immigration departments.

“I have also extended an invitation to Wolowsky to visit Malaysia soon in order to explain to the committee the conditions and criteria that must be fulfilled to have the detainee transferred.

“I am confident that the Malaysian de-radicalisation programme, which has a 97.5% success rate, can rehabilitate the Malaysian detainee,” he said.

In Putrajaya, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said Bukit Aman was ready to assist in the process of “de-radicalising” Mohamad Bashir should he be released to Malaysia’s custody.

“He is our countryman, he is a citizen of this country. We must take care of him and try to rehabilitate him. That’s our responsibility,” he said.