Money changers in Pattaya

[webfact]

Accused in Malaysia airport murder brought to court in bullet-proof vests

REUTERS

 

Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong leaves a Sepang court after she was charged with the murder of North Korea Kim Jong Nam, in Malaysia March 1, 2017. REUTERS/Alexandra Radu

 

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia on Wednesday charged two women - an Indonesian and a Vietnamese - with murdering the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader in an assassination using a super-toxic nerve agent that killed in minutes.

 

Siti Aishah, a 25-year-old mother of one from Jakarta, and Doan Thi Huong, 28, from rural northern Vietnam, could be hanged if they are convicted for the killing of Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Feb. 13.

 

Police brought the two women to court handcuffed and wearing bullet-proof vests. No plea was recorded after the charges were read out against them.

 

Aishah and Huong have told diplomats who visited them in custody that they were unwitting pawns in an assassination that U.S. officials and South Korean intelligence have said was organised by North Korean agents.

 

The next court date will be on April 13, when prosecutors will apply for the accused to be tried jointly.

 

Kim Jong Nam, who had criticised the regime of his family and his half-brother Kim Jong Un, died after the two women allegedly smeared VX nerve agent, a chemical described by the United Nations as a weapon of mass destruction, across his face.

 

The charges against Aishah were read first, followed by those against Huong.

 

According to the charges the women and four unnamed people, who are still at large, were at the departure hall of the airport, with intention to murder the North Korean citizen.

 

One North Korean man, identified by police as Ri Jong Chol, is still in police custody and has not been charged yet.

 

Malaysian police arrested both women in the days after the attack. Security camera footage, which has been broadcast in the media, showed them assaulting Kim Jong Nam at the airport. He died within 20 minutes.

 

Both women have told diplomats from their countries that they had been paid to take part in what they believed was a prank for a reality television show.

 

Speaking in Jakarta, Indonesia's foreign ministry spokesman Armanatha Nasir hoped Aishah would receive a fair trial.

 

"We hope that the principle of a defendant being presumed innocent until proven guilty will be adhered to," Nasir said.

 

"The lawyer that has been appointed will make the case for Siti and we hope that she gets a fair trial, afforded all her legal rights and not tried by the public."

 

Huong, the Vietnamese woman, was detained 48 hours after the murder in the same airport terminal where Kim Jong Nam was killed.

 

She is believed to be the woman wearing a white shirt emblazoned with the acronym "LOL", whose image was caught on security cameras while waiting for a taxi after the attack.

 

The Indonesian woman, Aishah, was detained a day later.

 

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; additional reporting by Kanupriya Kapoor in JAKARTA; writing by Praveen Menon and A.Ananthalakshmi; editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-03-01

[ddavidovsky]

Innocent. If North Korean agents wanted to recruit trained assassins they're not going to get a couple of Asian chicks to do it - too much of a weak link.

And Asian chicks aren't knowingly going to casually murder some stranger in an airport, obviously surrounded by cameras, for a few bucks, or even a lot of bucks. They just aren't.

[jippytum]

They should have been supplied with gas masks

[Grouse]

The Malaysians want some kind of "success" however tenuous

[GOLDBUGGY]

Gosh! Scary to think what is out their these days.

 

If someone is out to get you, and you touch the wrong door nob, then you can kiss your .... Goodbye.

 

That is if you still have time left to do that. Man!

[ddavidovsky]

2 hours ago, oby said:

? You did review the CCTV where they assaulted him before he went down?

 ?do you really think north Korea would do a hit with amateurs?

He's dead, and a professional  hit.

Dead men tell no tales 

He didn't go down. Assaulted him? - you mean when they smeared liquid on him? We all know they did that, but why assume the women knew what it was all about? Why assume they would casually murder a stranger in an airport? Where's the psychology in that? Have you seen the video of the Indonesian girl at her birthday party the previous night? She's no cold-blooded murderer.

 

Would the N. Koreans do a hit with amateurs? Not if the killers knew they were killing - in that case they would use their own guys. In this case, they tricked someone into doing it for them, the rationale being that the N. Koreans wouldn't get their hands dirty and could get off scot free.  I'm sure the women weren't meant to survive long after this.

 

 

[GOLDBUGGY]

1 hour ago, ddavidovsky said:

He didn't go down. Assaulted him? - you mean when they smeared liquid on him? We all know they did that, but why assume the women knew what it was all about? Why assume they would casually murder a stranger in an airport? Where's the psychology in that? Have you seen the video of the Indonesian girl at her birthday party the previous night? She's no cold-blooded murderer.

 

Would the N. Koreans do a hit with amateurs? Not if the killers knew they were killing - in that case they would use their own guys. In this case, they tricked someone into doing it for them, the rationale being that the N. Koreans wouldn't get their hands dirty and could get off scot free.  I'm sure the women weren't meant to survive long after this.

 

 

I tend to agree with you and a quick check into their bank accounts should prove they were not paid big money for this. But I still wonder about one thing.

 

The Chemical they were handling is very potent. I mean it killed this man in 20 minutes. If they got any of this stuff on them at all they to would be dead. So how is it they were so careful in handling this stuff if they didn't know what it was and what it could do? How did they dispose of the gloves and chemicals?

 

I mean preparing for this act they could not even scratch their nose or touch there own skin. So I think that they may not have known it was a deadly poison but they must have known something to be so careful with it I would think. But I to don't think they tried to commit murder here. It just doesn't add up. 

[Stargeezr]

I agree that these women in custody are much more involved than they are letting on.  They must have known that the chemicals they used were very dangerous, and that would mean much more than a reality show prank.  These women were trained to do this job, they just got caught and did not die from the chemicals themselves.  That must have ticked off the North Korean spy agency.

Geezer

[ddavidovsky]

24 minutes ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

They must have known that the chemicals they used were very dangerous

Why must they?  What if they weren't told?

That reckless assumption puts the lives of these women at risk.

 

[ddavidovsky]

2 hours ago, oby said:

5555

?how on earth could a TVF assumption put anyone at risk?

 .a?surely you don't think anyone within the malay judicial system reads your postulations on TVF??

555  time for a med check 555

Alright, I'll remove all ambiguity for you: I'm referring to this assumption (which I don't suppose is unique to you) in the context of the Malaysian courtroom.

Now answer the question.

[boomerangutang]

9 hours ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

I agree that these women in custody are much more involved than they are letting on.  They must have known that the chemicals they used were very dangerous, and that would mean much more than a reality show prank.  These women were trained to do this job, they just got caught and did not die from the chemicals themselves.

That must have ticked off the North Korean spy agency.

Geezer

                   People off the street do zany things often.  It started with Candid Camera (that dates me).  I once (as a teenager) had a friend talk me into going into his psychiatrist's office, take the hi-fi system, and walk out with it.  I did the foolish deed, and got away with it.  

 

                 The women's excuse sounds believable to me.  Everything points to a murder hit by N.Koreans, who wouldn't do anything serious without direction from the very top:  Fat Boy Kim.  

 

Malaysian authorities are bowing to N.Korean political pressure.  Lamentable.