Bali Bombers May Return to Malaysia After Sentencing

When a jury of military officers is assembled this week at Guantánamo Bay, it will be asked to choose a sentence in the 20- to 25-year range for two Malaysian prisoners who admitted to conspiring with an affiliate of Al Qaeda that carried out a deadly bombing in Indonesia two decades ago.

But behind the scenes, through a secret agreement that was negotiated with a senior Trump-era official, the men could be returned to Malaysia before the end of the year.

The sentencing proceedings for Mohammed Farik Bin Amin, 48, and Mohammed Nazir Bin Lep, 47, are part of a U.S. government strategy of trying to resolve Guantánamo’s national security cases through plea negotiations. The men spent years in secret C.I.A. prisons following their capture in 2003. In reaching the agreement, prosecutors averted lengthy litigation over torture that has stymied two capital cases, the Sept. 11 attacks and the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole.

The two men were captured along with a onetime member of the Qaeda affiliate, an Indonesian known as Hambali.