Siti Aisyah, (pictured) from Indonesia, and Doan Thi Huong, from Vietnam, appeared in court in Malaysia on Tuesday accused of assassinating Kim Jong-nam, half-brother of Kim Jong-un.
Two women accused of fatally poisoning Kim Jong-un’s half-brother at Kuala Lumpur airport have appeared in court wearing bullet-proof vests.
Siti Aisyah, from Indonesia, and Doan Thi Huong, from Vietnam, were protected by armed police as they appeared for a hearing in the Malaysian capital on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a counsellor from the Indonesian embassy said Aisyah wrote to her parents from jail, asking them to ‘pray for me that the case will be over soon’ but adding: ‘Don’t think about me too much.’
Aisyah and Huong are accused of smearing a deadly amount of VX nerve agent on Kim Jong-nam’s face on February 13. They say they were duped into thinking they were playing a prank for a hidden-camera show.
Yusron Ambary, counsellor at the Indonesian Embassy, read a letter that Aisyah wrote to reporters outside the courtroom.
She said: ‘I am in good health. Just pray. Don’t think about me too much. Keep healthy and pray at night. I have a lot of people helping me.
‘The embassy officials always come to see me, my lawyers also. Don’t worry.
‘Pray for me so that the case will be over soon and I can go back home. Send my love to my son Rio.’
Armed escorts accompanied the women, who smiled at their embassy representatives as they were brought to the dock.
The case was then officially transferred to the High Court, because the lower court does not have the authority to try murder cases.
Prosecutor Iskandar Ahmad said the date for their first appearance in the High Court would usually be within a month.
The suspects would then enter pleas and the trial would have to start within 90 days, Iskandar said.
Police have said four North Korean suspects fled Malaysia the day of the attack. Defense lawyers fear the women will be used as scapegoats in their absence.
Although Malaysia never directly accused North Korea of carrying out the attack, speculation is rampant that Pyongyang orchestrated a hit on a long-exiled member of its ruling elite.
Although Kim, who was estranged from his family, was not an obvious political threat, he may have been seen as a potential rival in the country’s dynastic dictatorship.
North Korea has denounced such speculation.
