The Appeals Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal to release on bail three men suspected of belonging to the militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, despite their prolonged imprisonment beyond the legal pre-trial detention period.
“We are keeping the Municipal Court’s decision [to keep the men in jail] because if we free them, they will commit serious crimes,” Appeals Court Judge Saly Theara told the court.
Thai nationals Abdul Azi Haji Chiming and Muhammad Yalaludin Mading, and Egyptian Esam Mohammed Khidr Ali, were arrested on May 25, 2003. They have been jailed for 19 months in Phnom Penh’s PJ prison awaiting trial.
Cambodian law does not allow anyone to be jailed more than six months without trial.
The men have been charged under a terrorism law under an article pertaining to attempted murder. The court, however, has yet to produce evidence linking the suspects to a crime.
Though they were brought to the Appeals Court for a brief hearing Monday, they remained in PJ prison Tuesday and were not present for the announcement of the court’s decision.
Their lawyer, Kao Soupha, said he was “very disappointed” with the court decision.
“This is very unjust,” he said. “I worked hard for my clients, although I got little result.”
He said he would write a complaint to the Supreme Court to appeal for their release. A trial date has not yet been set.