Indonesian citizen Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese national Doan Thi Huong will begin their trial for the murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s half-brother in Malaysia.
His daughter, Siti Aisyah and a Vietnamese woman, Doan Thi Huong, stand accused of carrying out one of the most audacious assassination plots of the 21st Century: the murder of Kim Jong Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
The pair’s trial began on Monday, in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. If found guilty, both could face the death penalty.
„She will be proven innocent,“ Hasan said. „My daughter would not have done such a thing, if she was not used by someone.“
The plot to murder North Korea’s exiled son
Killed with VX
Kim Jong Nam was killed on February 13 while trying to catch a flight from Kuala Lumpur to his adopted home of Macau, the Chinese-controlled territory and gambling mecca.
Malaysian authorities allege that Aisyah and Huong were trained by North Korean agents to surreptitiously swab Kim’s face with VX nerve agent, a powerful chemical weapon that kills by sending the nervous system into overdrive. North Korea vehemently denies this.
Representatives for Huong and Aisyah claimed the two women were duped into thinking that they were participating in a prank TV show.
Aisyah’s aunt told CNN in February her niece thought she’d been hired to work as a comedian, pranking strangers by smearing lotion and tomato sauce on their faces. Indonesia’s deputy ambassador to Malaysia said Aisyah thought the substance was a kind of baby oil.
Security footage shows one of the two women approaching Kim from behind and rubbing something on his face, before running away.
Kim sought help at a service counter. He was taken to an airport clinic, where an ambulance was called. He died en route to the hospital, about 20 minutes after the initial exposure. Tests on Kim’s eyes and face later revealed the presence of VX nerve agent.
