Mohammed Nazir bin Lep (also referred to as Lillie; born December 26, 1976) is a Malaysian alleged to be affiliated with

Jemaah Islamiyah Jemaah Islamiyah (, ''al-Jamāʿah al-Islāmiyyah'', meaning "Islamic Congregation", frequently abbreviated JI) was a Southeast Asian Islamist militant group based in Indonesia, which was dedicated to the establishment of an Islamic state in ...

and

Al-Qaeda , image = Flag of Jihad.svg , caption = Jihadist flag, Flag used by various al-Qaeda factions , founder = Osama bin Laden{{Assassinated, Killing of Osama bin Laden , leaders = {{Plainlist, * Osama bin Lad ...

, who was held in American DoD custody in the

Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, also known as GTMO ( ), GITMO ( ), or simply Guantanamo Bay, is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in 2002 by p ...

. He is one of 119 detainees previously held at secret Black Sites abroad, which included being subjected to

Enhanced Interrogation Techniques "Enhanced interrogation techniques" or "enhanced interrogation" was a program of systematic torture of detainees by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) and various components of the U.S. Armed Forces at ...

. In the ODNI biographies, Bin Lep is described as a high value detainee and lieutenant of Hambali (along with another alleged subordinate,

Mohamad Farik Amin Mohammed Farik bin Amin (born February 16, 1975), alias Zubair Zaid, is a Malaysian who is alleged to be a senior member of Jemaah Islamiyah and al Qaeda. He was held in American custody in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. He is one of the 14 de ...

). He was transferred from

clandestine Clandestine may refer to: * Secrecy, the practice of hiding information from certain individuals or groups, perhaps while sharing it with other individuals * Clandestine operation, a secret intelligence or military activity Music and entertainmen ...

custody to the

s, in

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, on September 6, 2006.

Early life

Mohammed Nazir bin Lep was born in 1976 in

Johor Johor, also spelled Johore,'' is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. It borders with Pahang, Malacca and Negeri Sembilan to the north. Johor has maritime borders with Singapore ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. He received a degree in

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

from Universiti Poly-Tech Malaysia (UPTM).

Guantanamo detainment

Mohammed Nazir bin Lep was detained in Guantanamo Bay in 2006 when he was transferred into DoD custody. Throughout his internment, the

Malaysian Government The Government of Malaysia, officially the Federal Government of Malaysia (; Jawi: ), is based in the Federal Territory of Putrajaya, with the exception of the legislative branch, which is located in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia is a federation comp ...

has sought to repatriate him in addition to another Malaysian national held in Guantanamo Bay.

Guantanamo Review Task Force

On January 21, 2009, the day he was inaugurated,

United States President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed For ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

issued three

executive order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of the ...

s related to the detention of individuals in

. That new review system was composed of officials from six departments, where the OARDEC reviews were conducted entirely by the Department of Defense. When it reported back, a year later, the

Guantanamo Review Task Force The Guantanamo Review Task Force was created by Executive Order 13492 issued by President of the United States Barack Obama on January 22, 2009, his second full day in office. United States Attorney General Eric Holder announced Matthew G. Olsen ...

classified some individuals as too dangerous to be transferred from Guantanamo, even though there was insufficient evidence to justify charging them. On April 9, 2013, that document was made public after a

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act (United States) of 1966 * F ...

request. He was one of the 71 individuals deemed unable to be charged due to insufficient evidence, but too dangerous to release. Obama said those deemed unable to be charged due to insufficient evidence but too dangerous to release would start to receive reviews from a

Periodic Review Board The Periodic Review Boards administrate a US ''"administrative procedure"'' for recommending whether certain individuals held in the Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba are safe to release or transfer, or whether they should continue to be held ...

Periodic Review Board

The first review wasn't convened until November 20, 2013. , 29 individuals had reviews, but Nazir was not one of them. Nazir was denied approval for transfer on September 15, 2016.

Trial

In August 2021, Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, Hambali, and Mohammed Farik bin Amin were charged by the United States government with murder and terrorism for their involvement in the

2002 Bali bombings The 2002 Bali bombings were a series of terrorist attacks on 12 October 2002 in the tourist district of Kuta on the Indonesian island of Bali. The attacks killed 202 people (including 88 Australians, 38 Indonesians, 23 Britons, and people ...

. On January 26, 2024, a military jury at Guantánamo sentenced Nazir and Farik to 23 years' confinement for their roles in the bombings. However, the sentence may be reduced to at most 6 years' confinement due to a secret deal the pair reached with a senior

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

official. They were granted the reduced sentence in exchange for agreeing to testify against Hambali. On December 18, 2024, Nazir and Farik were transferred to Malaysia.

References

External links

Secret Prison on Diego Garcia Confirmed: Six “High-Value” Guantánamo Prisoners Held, Plus “Ghost Prisoner” Mustafa Setmariam Nasar
Andy Worthington
UN Secret Detention Report (Part One): The CIA’s “High-Value Detainee” Program and Secret Prisons
Andy Worthington {{DEFAULTSORT:Bin Lep, Mohammed Nazir 1976 births Detainees of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp Malaysian al-Qaeda members Malaysian extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Living people People subject to extraordinary rendition by the United States