Article

2009-06-13 Southeast Asia

[Straits Times] CAMBODIAN Prime Minister Hun Sen agreed on Friday to allow two Thai Muslims convicted of plotting attacks on Western embassies in Phnom Penh in 2004 to serve the rest of their prison terms in Thailand.

The deal was agreed during a meeting on Friday between Hun Sen and his Thai counterpart Abhisit Vejjajiva, Information Minister Khieu Kanharith told Reuters.

The two Thais and a Cambodian, who were linked to the Southeast Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI), were given life sentences by a Cambodian court in December 2004 for plotting to bomb the US and British embassies in Phnom Penh.

Chiming Abdul Azi, Muhammadyalludin Mading and Cambodian Sman Esma El were found guilty of colluding to attack the missions along with Hambali, the suspected JI mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.

Hambali remains in US detention since being handed over by Thailand after his capture in the central city of Ayutthaya in 2003.

Mr Kanharith said several Cambodians serving prison sentences in Thailand would be returned as part of the deal. 'Hun Sen told his Thai counterpart that he would send the two convicted Thais to serve their punishment in Thailand and vice-versa,' he said.

Mr Kanharith said the transfers could take some time because Thailand and Cambodia have no extradition agreement.

The two leaders also pledged to settle a long-running dispute over the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple, which has been a source of tension between the two countries for generations.

Two Thai soldiers were killed and nine wounded in April in a clash with Cambodian troops near the temple, which the International Court of Justice awarded to Cambodia in 1962, without ruling on the ownership of the disputed land around it.

'They gave assurances that armed conflicts would not take place at the border near the temple,' Ieng Sophalleth, a Cambodian government spokesman, told reporters.

Posted by Fred 2009-06-13 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11130 views ] Top
File under: Jemaah Islamiyah

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