SHAH ALAM, Malaysia: The trial of two women accused of murdering the North Korean leader’s half-brother was Thursday shown CCTV footage of four men suspected of involvement in the assassination at the airport crime scene.
A police officer testified one of the men was believed to have been the “mastermind” in the killing of Kim Jong-Nam on February 13 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, in a hit that stunned the world.
Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong are on trial accused of carrying out the assassination by rubbing the nerve agent VX on his face.
The pair, who were arrested a few days after the assassination and face death by hanging if convicted, have pleaded not guilty to murdering the estranged half-brother of Kim Jong-Un.
They say they were tricked into believing they were taking part in a prank for a reality TV show, and South Korea has accused the North of ordering the hit. Pyongyang denies the allegations.
The charge sheet says four other individuals still at large are suspected of murdering Kim along with the women, but does not identify them. Four North Koreans fled Malaysia on the day of the murder.
Wan Azirul Nizam Che Wan Aziz, the main police investigating officer, previously testified the four other suspects were men known to the women by pseudonyms — Mr.Y, Mr.Chang, Hanamori and James.
CCTV footage of the men at the airport around the time of the murder was shown in court Thursday.
“Hanamori played the role as the mastermind of this incident,” Wan Azirul told the Shah Alam High Court, outside Kuala Lumpur,
The officer testified that the video showed Hanamori arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport’s budget terminal just after 7:30 am and sitting at a table with James.
The other two men are then seen taking it in turns to separately sit down and talk to Hanamori.
The officer said Hanamori, Mr.Chang and Mr.Y changed their clothes after the attack and then headed to the airport’s main terminal, where they were filmed together in the departure hall.
James was filmed heading to an airport hotel at the main terminal following the attack. He checked out and was later also seen in the terminal’s departure hall.
Wan Azirul previously told the court that two of the men, Mr.Chang and Mr.Y, met Aisyah, 25, and Huong, 29, and put liquid on their hands shortly before Kim was attacked at 9:00 am.
Kim Jong-Nam trial sees airport video of male suspects
Kim Jong-Nam trial sees airport video of male suspects
US Justice Department official eyes cases against Cuba leaders as Trump floats ‘friendly takeover’
- “Working group” formed to build cases against people connected to the Cuban government
- Trump’s has increasingly displayed aggressive stance against Cuba’s communist leadership
MIAMI: The top Justice Department prosecutor in Miami is considering criminal investigations of Cuban government officials, according to people familiar with the matter. The inquiry comes as President Donald Trump has raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover” of the communist-run island.
Jason Reding Quiñones, the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida, has created a “working group” that includes federal prosecutors and officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies to try to build cases against people connected to the Cuban government and its Communist Party, according to one of the people. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the effort.
It was not immediately clear which Cuban officials the office is targeting or what criminal charges prosecutors may be looking to bring.
The Justice Department said in a statement Friday that “federal prosecutors from across the country work every day to pursue justice, which includes efforts to combat transnational crime.”
The effort is taking place against the backdrop of Trump’s increasingly aggressive stance against Cuba’s communist leadership.
Emboldened by the US capture of Cuba’s close ally, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump last month said his administration was in high-level talks with officials in Havana to pursue “a friendly takeover” of the country. He repeated those claims this week, saying his attention would turn back to Cuba once the war with Iran winds down.
“They want to make a deal so bad,” Trump said of Cuba’s leadership.
While Cuba has faded from Washington’s radar as a major national security threat in recent decades, it remains a priority in the US Attorney’s office in Miami, whose political, economic and cultural life is dominated by Cuban-American exiles.
The FBI field office has a dedicated Cuba group that in 2024 was instrumental in the arrest of former US Ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha on charges of serving as a secret agent of Cuba stretching back to the 1970s.
In recent weeks, several Miami Republicans, in addition to Florida Sen. Rick Scott, have called on the Trump administration to reopen its criminal investigation into the 1996 shootdown of four planes operated by anti-communist exiles.
In a letter to Trump on Feb. 13, lawmakers including Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez highlighted decades-old news reports indicating that former President Raúl Castro — the head of Cuba’s military at the time — gave the order to shoot down the unarmed Cessna aircraft.
“We believe unequivocally that Raúl Castro is responsible for this heinous crime,” lawmakers wrote. “It is time for him to be brought to justice.”
While no indictment against Castro has been announced, Florida’s attorney general said this week that he would open a state-level investigation into the crime.
The Trump administration has also accused Cuba of not cooperating with American counterterrorism efforts, adding it alongside North Korea and Iran to a select few nations the US considers state sponsors of terrorism.
The designation stems from Cuba’s harboring of US fugitives and its refusal to extradite several Colombian rebel leaders while they were engaged in peace talks with the South American nation.
