VIETNAMESE Doan Thi Huong (center) is escorted by police as she leaves her court hearing at the Shah Alam High Court in Shah Alam, Malaysia Thursday, 16 August 2018. The Malaysian court has ordered the two women, Doan Thi Huong and Indonesian Siti Aisyah to enter their defense over the murder of North Korean leader’s half-brother in a brazen assassination that has gripped the world. AP

The judge said their intention to kill can be inferred from targeting Kim’s eyes, where the nerve agent would penetrate faster.

SHAH ALAM, Malaysia — Two women on trial for the brazen assassination of the North Korean leader’s half brother were told Thursday to make their defense after the judge found evidence of a “well-planned conspiracy,” extending their murder trial until next year.

Indonesia’s Siti Aisyah and Vietnam’s Doan Thi Huong are accused of smearing VX nerve agent on Kim Jong Nam’s face in an airport terminal in Kuala Lumpur on 13 February 2017.

High Court Judge Azmi Ariffin said there was inadequate proof to show it was a political assassination. He said he wasn’t persuaded by defense argument that the women thought they were taking part in a prank for a hidden-camera show. But enough evidence had been presented in the six-month trial to infer the women and four North Korean suspects at large had meticulously engaged in a “well-planned conspiracy” to kill Kim “systemically,” he said.

“I must therefore call upon them to enter their defense,” the judge said after reading his ruling for more than two hours.

Indonesian Ambassador Rusdi Kirana told reporters outside court that he was shocked by the court’s decision but his government will abide by it.

In Huong’s village in Vietnam, her family said they were sad to hear she was not acquitted.

Her father, Doan Van Thanh, said he could not sleep last night, anxious to hear the ruling.

“I had hoped the court would announce that she is innocent but now we are really worried for her,” he said. Huong’s brother, Doan Van Binh, said the family hopes she will receive a fair trial.

Aisyah, 25, and Huong, 29, told the court they would testify under oath in their defense.

Aisyah, who will be the first to take the stand when the trial resumes 1 November, later cried and was consoled by her lawyers and Indonesian officials. Huong was calm. The judge set hearing dates that extend till next February.

The women are accused of colluding with four North Korean suspects who fled the country the same morning Kim was killed. Aisyah and Huong are the only suspects in custody and face the death penalty if convicted.

According to the case presented so far, the four men known to Aisyah and Huong by code names recruited, trained and supplied the women with the banned chemical weapon that they smeared on Kim’s face.

Airport security footage shown in court captured the moment of the attack and prosecutors also said the camera images linked the women to the four male suspects. Shortly after Kim arrived at the airport, Huong was seen approaching him, clasping her hands on his face from behind and then fleeing. Another blurred figure was also seen running away from Kim and a police investigator testified that it was Aisyah.

Kim died within two hours of the attack.

Defense lawyers have said the prosecution failed to show the two women had any intention to kill — key to establishing they are guilty of murder. AP