Aisyah holds hands with her legal team at a press conference after her murder charge was unexpectedly dropped on Monday

The two young women were accused of smearing VX nerve agent on Kim Jong Nam’s face in an airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur in February 2017.
They have said they thought they were taking part in a prank for a TV show.
The High Court judge discharged Aisyah without an acquittal after prosecutors applied to drop the murder charge against her.
Related:
Leaked CCTV footage shows the North Korean leader’s half-brother being killed by female assassins in a busy Kuala Lumpur airport on February 13 The ‘female hit squad […]

Taking this legal route means prosecutors will have the chance to charge Aisyah a second time, but say there are no plans to do so at the moment.
Aisyah will now been allowed to return to her family in Indonesia, but it is not clear whether the government will be providing security for her in case North Korea attempts to take revenge on its stooge assassin.

Alleged Indonesian  assassin Siti ‘nice girl’ Aisyah, after cops arrested her in Kuala Lumpur Feb 13, 2017

    This  image was released of one of the second female suspect wearing a “LOL” top, she turned out to be of the Vietnamese, Doan Thi Huong

In the town of Sindangsari, family made preparations to welcome back the 29-year-old.
Aisyah’s parents were in the capital Jakarta Monday to await their daughter’s return, after a flurry of diplomatic efforts between the two Southeast Asian neighbours.
Aisyah herself said she doubted that she would ever get home, telling reporters: ‘I had already surrendered myself to God.
‘It was the support of my family – my mother, my father – and the embassy, that kept me going. Now I want to see them.’

Aisyah’s co-accused, Vietnamese citizen Doan Thi Huong [centre] remains on trial, though her legal team are also pressing for her release

Incredulous: Aisyah has consistently denied murdering Kim, maintaining she’d been fooled North Korean intelligence agents and [transported across borders] to  prank a man she’d never met before

Aisyah has consistently denied murdering Kim, saying that she thought she was [transported across borders] to take part in a prank game show after being fooled by North Korean intelligence agents.
Asked if she would ever return to Malaysia, the woman replied: ‘Who knows – but I don’t want to be here right now … I want to stay in Indonesia.’
Aisyah and Huong had been the only suspects in custody after four North Korean suspects fled the country the same morning Kim was killed.
The trial will resume Thursday, with prosecutors expected to reply to a request by Huong’s lawyers asking the government to withdraw the charges against her.
Indonesia’s government said its continual high-level lobbying resulted in Aisyah’s release.

The assassination video was leaked, showing the Kim Jong-Nam’s last moments alive

Indonesian officials mounted a major diplomatic effort to free Aisyah, which included pressure from the president.

Indonesia often makes concerted diplomatic efforts to free its citizens detained overseas, particularly those who may face the death penalty.

Speaking at the Indonesian embassy in Malaysia, Indonesian Justice Minister Yasonna Laoly reeled off a list of figures in government — from President Joko Widodo to the foreign minister — who had pushed for Aisyah’s release.

The future looked much more bleak for Huong however, who still stands accused of murder despite her case being almost identical to Aisyah’s.
“I do not know what will happen to me now. I am innocent – please pray for me,” the 30-year-old said.

Her testimony Monday was adjourned and her lawyers said they would apply to have her murder charge dropped as well.

In the northern Vietnamese province of Nam Dinh, her father Doan Van Thanh expressed shock his daughter was still behind bars and called for her release.

‘Why did they release the Indonesian girl without releasing my daughter?’ he said.
Vietnam generally does not get publicly involved in individual criminal cases overseas, and foreign affairs officials did not respond to a request for comment.
A murder conviction carries a mandatory penalty of death by hanging in Malaysia.
It said Aisyah, a migrant worker, believed that she was part of a reality TV show and never had any intention of killing Kim.
The women’s lawyers insist the North Koreans are the real masterminds.

The alleged killer team: The four memeber team of assassins were arrested by Malaysian authorities on Feb 13, 2917 include [Top, L-R] Muhammad Farid Bin Jalaluddin, the Vietnamese ‘LOL Assassin’ Doan Thi Huong. Bottom [L-R]  Ri Jong Chol, Indonesian assassin Siti ‘nice girl’ Aisyah

The ministry said that over the past two years, Aisyah’s plight was raised in ‘every bilateral Indonesia-Malaysia meeting,’ including at the president’s level, the vice president’s level and in regular meetings of the foreign minister and other ministers with their Malaysian counterparts.
Aisyah’s release comes just a month before Indonesia’s general election and is seen as a boost to President Joko Widodo, who is seeking re-election.
Aisyah thanked Widodo and his government for helping secure her release. Officials said she was expected to fly back to Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, later Monday.
Wearing a red headscarf and a black flowery traditional dress, Aisyah was composed during the news conference.
She said that she was well treated in prison and received plenty of encouragement, but that she was eager to meet her family again.
Meanwhile, Huong said she was shocked by the development.

It is thought that Kim was assassinated after his half-brother, who had just taken over rule of North Korea, uncovered a plot to replace him with his sibling

Kim Jong-nam apparently alive and well, in the light grey jacket, was seen inside the Kuala Lumpur airport lounge on February 13 moments before the assassins struck

Kim Jong-nam [in grey suit], raises alarm with officials after airport attack 

Kim spoke to airport security guards to alert them to the fact that he had been poisoned before collapsing and dying a short time later.

‘I am in shock. My mind is blank,’ a distraught Huong told reporters through a translator after Aisyah left.
Following Aisay’s release, Huong’s lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said Huong felt her co-defendant’s discharge was unfair to her as the judge last year had found sufficient evidence to continue the murder trial against them.
‘She is entitled to the same kind of consideration as Aisyah,’ he said. ‘We are making representation to the attorney general for Doan to be taken equally … there must be justice.’

Minutes after he was sprayed by the female assassin,  Kim Jong-Nam is dead in an armchair

A High Court judge last August had found there was enough evidence to infer Aisyah, Huong and the four missing North Koreans had engaged in a ‘well-planned conspiracy’ to kill Kim Jong Nam.
The defense phase of the trial had been scheduled to start in January but was delayed until Monday.
Lawyers for the women have previously said that they were pawns in a political assassination with clear links to the North Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and that the prosecution failed to show the women had any intention to kill.
Intent to kill is crucial to a murder charge under Malaysian law.
Malaysian officials have never officially accused North Korea and have made it clear they don’t want the trial politicized.
Kim was the eldest son in the current generation of North Korea’s ruling family. He had been living abroad for years but could have been seen as a threat to Kim Jong Un’s rule.The assassination of the leader’s brother, Kim Jong-nam, is announced on Korean TV

Siti Aisyah walked free from a court outside Kuala Lumpur after prosecutors withdrew the charge without giving any reason. She was accused alongside Doan Thi Huong from Vietnam, who remains on trial, of the brazen murder of Kim Jong Nam at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on February 13, 2017.
Malaysian detectives tracked down two migrant women — one Vietnamese and one Indonesian — who they say are seen on CCTV carrying out the attack.
The two women, who are eventually charged with murder, say they had been paid to carry out what they thought was a prank for a reality TV show.
An autopsy reveals Kim died from exposure to the VX nerve agent, an artificial chemical so deadly it is banned under international treaty and classified by the UN as a weapon of mass destruction.
Kuala Lumpur arrests North Korean citizen Ri Jong Chol in connection with the murder. Over the following days investigators say diplomats and airline employees from the isolated regime are also wanted for questioning. All are holed up at the North Korean embassy or have already left the country.
North Korea pours scorn on what it calls “absurd” claims that VX was used, saying South Korea and the US are mounting a smear campaign against it.

 North Korea insists the dead man was called Kim Chol and demands his body be returned. Investigators refuse to release the corpse.

Tensions escalated after North Korea banned all Malaysians from leaving Pyongyang. Malaysia retaliated.
In early March, Ri Jong Chol is released from custody and deported from Malaysia. Frustrated Malaysian police say they believed he was involved in the plot but lacked evidence to prove it.
In October 2017, the two womenwent on trial over the murder. They maintain their innocence.
Four men indicted along with the women to murder Kim Jong Nam are identified by a police officer as North Koreans who fled Malaysia immediately after the assassination.