Reuters reported that Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong had told diplomats who visited them in custody that they were pawns in the killing which has sparked a diplomatic crisis between Malaysia and North Korea.
“She denied. She denied. She said, ‘I’m innocent’,” Doan’s lawyer Selvam Shanmugam was quoted as saying by Reuters.
“Of course, she’s definitely distressed because she is facing the death penalty.”
Siti Aisyah and Doan were charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code with the murder of Kim Chol, the name given on the passport issued to Jong Nam.
Jong Nam, the son of late North Korean strongman Kim Jong Il, is said to be on bad terms with present leader, Kim Jong Un.
He was waiting to board a flight at the low-cost carrier airport klia2 in Sepang on Feb 13, when he was attacked by two female assailants. Pyongyang has dismissed suggestions that it had a hand in the killing, and accused Malaysia of collaborating with hostile forces, the phrase normally used by the regime to describe neighbouring South Korea.
Siti Aisyah and Doan were identified after an airport CCTV recording showed them attacking Jong Nam with a substance later found to be the dangerous VX nerve agent banned by the United Nations.
Meanwhile, in Jakarta, Indonesia’s foreign ministry spokesman Armanatha Nasir hoped Siti Aisyah would receive a fair trial.
“We hope that she gets a fair trial, is afforded all her legal rights and is not tried by the public,” Nasir told Reuters.
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