Key Bali bombers to move to Nusakambangan

Key Bali bombers to move to Nusakambangan

The authorities plan to move 28 people convicted for the Bali bombings, including three key players on death row, from a jail in Bali to prisons in Central Java province, an official said on Monday.

"It is still a plan but we want to move 28 Bali bombing convicts to jails in Central Java for security reasons," the head of the Central Java justice office, Marsono, told AFP.

Marsono said four jails, including the top-security prison on Nusakambangan island in Cilacap regency, would take 28 convicts currently held at Kerobokan jail near Denpasar in Bali.

"It is a plan that has been told to me but there is as yet no date or other details available," Marsono said, adding that the information had come from the justice ministry in Jakarta. He declined to provide further details.

The 28 include three sentenced to death for their key roles in the October 2002 blasts that killed 202 people -- mechanic Amrozi, his elder brother Ali Ghufron alias Mukhlas and the operation's alleged commander, Imam Samudra.

The head of the Kerobokan jail in Bali, Bromo Setiono, said he had not heard of such a plan but would comply with any ministry decision.

Courts in Bali sentenced 33 people for the bombings, which were carried out by the Al Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah terror group.

Apart from the three sentenced to death by firing squad, four others were given life sentences and the remainder received jail terms ranging from 16 years to three years.

Five of the lesser offenders were moved to Java jails last year. --AFP