Woman accused of killing Kim Jong Nam freed after two years

An Indonesian woman accused of assassinating the North Korean leader's half-brother was released from custody today after a Malaysian court dropped a murder charge against her. 

Siti Aisyah had been on trial, alongside a Vietnamese woman Doan Thi Huong, for poisoning Kim Jong Nam, the estranged half-brother of Kim Jong Un at Kuala Lumpur airport in February 2017.

While the court discharged Aisyah from the case, it rejected her



lawyer’s request for her to be fully acquitted. The court said that the trial had already established a prima facie case and she could be recalled if fresh evidence emerges.

From the outset of the case, there were suspicions that Kim Jong Nam was the victim of plot arranged by North Korean agents who fled Malaysia shortly after the murder, and the two women had been mere pawns in the political assassination.