The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused bail for two Thai and one Egyptian national arrested in May for their alleged involvement in international terrorism linked to the militant group Jemaah Islamiyah.
The bail hearing followed complaints that the three men have been detained without trial for eight months, two months longer than the six-month period allowed under the law.
Kao Soupha, the lawyer for the defendants, said at Wednesday’s court hearing that his clients were arrested without warrant and that after eight months of investigations, the police are still reluctant to hold a trial because they lack enough evidence to convict the men.
Phnom Penh Municipal Court officials have called on several occasions for the Interior Ministry to provide more evidence for their investigation.
“I will continue to try to seek justice for my clients. I will file a complaint to the Constitutional Council, the King and the Ministry of Justice,” Kao Soupha said after the court decision. “This is unjust.”
Announcing the decision, Supreme Court Judge Som Sereyvuth said the case was taking time because it was “difficult” and bail could not be considered because the allegation of terrorism was a serious international crime.
In apparent explanation as to why the lawful pre-trial detention period was being waived, Som Sereyvuth said the three suspects did not have proper residency in Cambodia.
“The suspects are foreigners. They don’t have exact residency. If we release them it will spoil the investigation and we cannot assure that the suspect will turn in when there is a trial,” he said.
The judge also discounted complaints from the three Muslims that they could not survive on the diet in Prey Sar prison because the food included pork, which for religious reasons they do not eat.
“The complaint is not correct. The food is the responsibility of the prison and there is no law to release them [on these grounds],” he said.
With stony expressions, Thai Muslims Abdul Azi Haji Chiming, 35, Muhammad Yalaludin Mading, 41, and Egyptian Esam Mohammed Khidr Ali, 40, were trooped from the courtroom.
Earlier Esam Mohammed Khidr Ali, the director of the Om-Alqura school where the three worked before their arrest, addressed the five trial judges for almost 40 minutes in Arabic.
Translated into Khmer, the school director made an articulate case for his innocence and that of his school. He also argued that he should be at least allowed bail while awaiting trial.
Teachers Abdul Azi Haji Chiming and Muhammad Yalaludin Mading, also stated their case for release with promises not to leave Cambodia until their day in court.
“The [Om-Alquara] school was recognized by the government. It taught general knowledge for the students. The school was not related to terrorism,” Esam Mohammed Khidr Ali said.
“[The school] never hid anything from the authorities. There was nothing inside [the school],” he said, adding that Sam Rainsy Party parliamentarian Ahmad Yahya has offered to provide him with accommodation and stand as guarantor if bail was granted.
He was cut off by one presiding judge who said the hearing was not about the suspect’s guilt or innocence, but whether he qualified for bail.
Police closed two schools run by the Saudi Arabian-based Om-Alqura organization in late May. On June 12, Cambodian ethnic Cham Sman Esma El, 23, was arrested at a Kuwaiti-funded orphanage in Phnom Penh’s Dangkao district.
He was accused of having links to the three suspects and was also charged with having links to Jemaah Islamiyah. Sman Esma El was not in court on Wednesday.
A trial of the four suspects was scheduled for Monday but was postponed following a complaint by Sman Esma El’s lawyer, Nach Try, who charged that presiding judge Ham Mengse was not independent
Ham Mengse said the case has been passed to Judge Ya Sakhorn. A new trial date has not been set, he added.
Cambodian officials have been extremely tightlipped about the evidence that led to the four suspects but have confirmed that they were fingered by a US government security agency.
Interior Ministry officials confirmed last year that US Central Intelligence Agency agents interrogated the four suspects in Phnom Penh in June.
