KUALA LUMPUR: Everyone deserves a second chance, says Malaysia's top cop on the rehabilitation and reintegration of Mohammed Farik Amin and Mohammed Nazir Lep into society.
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said both individuals displayed a positive attitude and were receptive to evaluation and rehabilitation.
"They have also expressed strong commitment to reintegrate as active, progressive members of society.
"Everyone deserves a second chance, and the police will ensure they succeed," he said.
Razarudin said police took custody of the two earlier today.
"They were received in good health and they are grateful to be back on Malaysian soil and reunited with their families," he said.
Farik and Nazir were arrested in Thailand in 2003 in connection to the Bali bombings that claimed 202 lives the year before.
They never faced trial until this year.
In January, under a plea bargain, both men reached agreements with prosecutors to charges of being accessories to the terrorist attacks in Bali.
Farik and Nazir also had to testify against the Bali bombings mastermind Encep Nurjaman a.k.a. Hambali, under the plea bargain.
Hambali is the former leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah movement – an affiliate of Al-Qaeda.
After a short trial, US military judge Lt. Col. Wesley A. Braun gave the duo a five-year jail sentence.
Meanwhile, the US Department of Defence confirmed Farik and Nazir's repatriation from Guantanamo Bay to the Malaysian government.
The department said that in June, the Convening Authority recommended that both men be repatriated or transferred to a third-party sovereign nation to serve the remainder of their five-year sentence.