Bali police chief acknowledges lack of progress in blast probe
Bali police chief acknowledges lack of progress in blast probe
Reuters, Denpasar
Bali Police Chief Insp. Gen. Made Mangku Pastika expressed
frustration on Tuesday at the lack of progress in finding those
behind the three suicide bombings on the resort island early this
month that killed 23 people including the bombers.
Pastika, who led the successful investigation of the 2002 Bali
nightclub attacks, said the national distribution of leaflets
showing the decapitated heads of the three bombers as well as
electronically enhanced pictures had yielded little response.
"I wonder why nobody has stepped forward. What is baffling is
where did (the three bombers) live? We don't even know where they
came from." Pastika told reporters in the Bali capital of
Denpasar.
Police have not named any suspects over the attacks.
The three suicide bombers killed 20 people when they detonated
explosives-laden backpacks in crowded restaurants on Oct. 1.
Pastika has said the men had Indonesian facial features.
He said the bombers might have left their families and
hometowns for so long that nobody recognized them.
Pastika also had a more chilling theory.
"The second possibility is they come from families or groups
that condone the terrorism movement. This is dangerous."
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation. The vast
majority of those following Islam are moderates, but militancy
has been a growing force.
After militants bombed bars on Bali in 2002, killing 202
people, police found leads quickly from the remnants of a car
used in the main attack and made the first big arrest in a month.
That then led to numerous more and ultimately 30 convictions.
Police said on Monday they would issue new leaflets saying
anyone giving credible information on the identities of the
suspected backpack bombers would receive $10,000.
Suspicion for the attacks has fallen on Jamaah Islamiyah or an
offshoot of the network, seen as al Qaeda's arm in Southeast
Asia.
In recent bombings, court testimony has shown that senior
operatives from Jamaah Islamiyah have brainwashed young recruits
from poor families living on the main island of Java to drive
bomb-laden cars to targets.
Meanwhile, lawyers for three militants on death row over the
2002 Bali bombings are to make a final appeal to the Supreme
Court after the men refused to seek clemency from the President.
Achmad Michdan, one of the lawyers, said on Tuesday he would
ask the Supreme Court to review its decision to uphold earlier
court decisions on the grounds the Antiterrorism Law used to
convict the men could not be used.
In July last year, the Constitutional Court annulled a key
piece of legislation that had allowed the Antiterrorism Law --
passed after the Bali attacks -- to be used against the
bombers retroactively.
The legal option the lawyers will use is called a judicial
review, and amounts to asking the Supreme Court to review its own
decision. It is allowed only if new evidence is presented.
"This is the one reason for a judicial review, because those
convicted could not be charged based on a law which did not exist
when the incident took place," Michdan told Reuters.
Balinese have been demanding the speedy execution of the death
row bombers in the wake of the Oct. 1 bomb attacks.
Since none of the three has sought presidential clemency, the
judicial review will be their last barrier between execution by
firing squad.
Families of the three had also declined their chance to seek a
presidential pardon on behalf of the men, but wanted lawyers to
take any other necessary legal steps, Michdan added.