KOTA KINABALU: The Philippines Embassy is working with the Prisons Department to repatriate the body of a Filipino national who died amid the ongoing Lahad Datu intrusion trial.
Lawyer Datuk N. Sivananthan said the Philippines government will then send the body of Habil Suhaili, 68, to his native southern Jolo island.
“The embassy is waiting for the Prisons Department to give the clearance to retrieve the body,” he said on Monday.
Habil died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital here on Saturday, and Sivananthan said his client had been suffering from asthma and severe gastric attacks.
The lawyer, appointed by the Philippines government to represent 27 of its nationals in the trial, said the High Court would be informed of Habil’s death.
He added that the defence would continue with the hearing on the remaining dates set by the court.
Habil was charged together with his son Timhar, 39, with being a member of a terrorist group.
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