Malaysia releases Vietnamese woman accused of murder

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA - A Vietnamese woman accused of killing the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was released from jail in Malaysia on Friday morning.

Malaysian daily The Star reported Doan Thi Huong was released from jail at 7.15 a.m. local time (2300GMT).

Huong was arrested along with another Indonesian woman Siti Aisyah on charges of poisoning Kim Jong-Nam at Kuala Lumpur's airport in February 2017 with the toxic nerve agent VX, an internationally prohibited chemical weapon.

Footage showed the two women placing their hands on his face and leaving the scene. Kim died on his way to the hospital.

A Malaysian court ordered her release after Huong pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of causing injury on purpose by employing dangerous means on April 13.

The two women have been in jail for the last two years.

Aisyah was released on March 11 after prosecutors dropped charges against her. Unlike Huong, forensic investigators found no trace of the toxic chemical on Aisyah's fingernails and she showed no symptoms of poisoning.

The freed Vietnamese national is expected reach her country tonight.

Aisyah and Huong had claimed that they “believed they were taking part in a television prank and were tricked into smearing the lethal nerve agent on the victim's face”.