Court seeks clemency for bombers
The Jakarta Post, Denpasar
The Denpasar District Court is to seek clemency on behalf of two key Bali bombers on death row -- Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, 41, and Abdul Azis alias Imam Samudra, 34.
The court has decided to do so after the two convicted terrorists declined to use their rights to appeal for clemency to the President by the deadline of Nov. 3.
"Since the two did not avail of their rights by the expiry of the deadline, the Denpasar District Court has decided to submit clemency requests," Denpasar District Court President I Nengah Suriada was quoted by Antara as saying on Saturday.
He did not say when the court submitted the clemency requests.
Suriada said the court had based its decision on a circular issued by the Supreme Court in 1986.
"In line with the circular, the district court that hands down the death sentence may seek clemency for those convicted if they fail to exercise their rights," Suriada said.
On Sept. 10, 2003, the Denpasar District Court sentenced Imam Samudra to death by firing squad after finding him guilty of masterminding the Bali blast.
"Imam Samudra has been proved beyond all reasonable doubt of having planned a terrorist act, and we therefore sentence him to death," the judges said in their verdict.
Samudra is the second Indonesian to be sentenced to death by firing squad under the Antiterrorist Law, which was passed last year, shortly after the Bali bombings.
On Aug. 7, the same district court handed down the death sentence to Amrozi, another key defendant in the Bali bombing case.
The court had also handed down the death sentence to Amrozi's older brother, Ali Ghufron alias Mukhlas, who is said to have authorized Samudra to go ahead with the attack, and Ali Imron, one of the bombmakers.
Ali Ghufron has appealed against the death sentence.
A total of 29 suspects were convicted for their involvement in the terror attacks.
The Bali bombings were the worst ever terrorist attack on Indonesian soil.
The government enacted the Antiterror Law in the wake of the attacks to avoid further attacks in the future. However, over the last two years the country has seen successive terror attacks directed against foreign interests in the country.
Days before the verdicts on the Bali bombers were delivered, a bomb ripped through the U.S.owned JW Marriott hotel, killing 12 people and injuring dozens of others. Last September, 11 people perished after a car bomb exploded in front of the Australian Embassy in South Jakarta.
Suriada, however, said that clemency had been sought only in order to comply with the Supreme Court's circular.
He said that the appeals for clemency would not be sent to the President directly, but would go first to the Supreme Court.
"If the Supreme Court agrees, then it is the Supreme Court that will forward them to the President," he said.