The two witnesses are relatives of Farik Amin who had pleaded guilty with Nazir Lep to their role in the Bali bombing that killed 202 people in October 2002.
The witnesses are scheduled to testify for Farik and Nazir before the pair are sentenced by a US military court in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Farik’s lawyer Christine Funk said her team was disappointed that the visas have not been issued yet despite the necessary documents being submitted in early December.
“Our most recent e-mail from the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur indicated that they were under the impression the witnesses need to be here on Jan 25, which is false,” she told presiding Judge Wesley A Braun.
The judge had said the testimony of the two witnesses at the mitigation and sentencing phase of the trail was part of a pre-trial agreement between the US government and the accused.
Funk said there was a very limited schedule for flights into Guantanamo, and their “next best hope” is a military flight on Tuesday (Jan 23). She said the witnesses had met US embassy officials in Kuala Lumpur on Jan 12 about their visas.
Prosecutor George Kraehe told the judge that arrangements were being made for alternative courses of action should the witnesses not be able to obtain their visas in time.
The court also revealed that Farik and Nazir had signed a pre-trial agreement containing a clause that says the sentences will range from 20-25 years’ imprisonment and that the jail term may start from the day they pleaded guilty.
Nazir’s counsel Brian Bouffard said his client is in good spirits and happy to have this portion of the case successfully behind him.
“We are now turning to the sentencing portion of the hearing, which will occur next week. He feels a great sense of peace in accepting responsibility for the things he was responsible for,” he told FMT.
Nazir, 46, and Farik, 48, have been held in solitary confinement for 20 years in the Guantanamo Bay detention centre. They pleaded guilty on Tuesday to conspiring in the bomb attacks in Bali
They were first charged in 2018 together with Indonesian Encep Nurjaman, who is also known as Hambali, and is alleged to be the mastermind.
They were charged with nine offences relating to the bombings of nightclubs in Bali, which killed 202 people, and the 2003 Marriott hotel bombing in Jakarta which led to 11 deaths.
However, their guilty pleas made no mention of any link to the 2003 bombing in Jakarta.