Three Bali bombers refuse to seek clemency
Three Bali bombers refuse to seek clemency
Agencies, Jakarta
Three militants on death row for their roles in the 2002 Bali bombings have refused to request presidential pardons, a prosecutor said on Thursday, as public calls mounted for their immediate execution.
Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, Imam Samudra and Ali Ghufron alias Mukhlas were sentenced to death by firing squad in August 2003 for their parts in the nightclub bombings the year before that killed 202 people and dealt tourism on the resort island a heavy blow.
"They all refused to seek grace. They said that grace should only be sought from Allah, and not from an earthly institution," said Djoko Susilo, the head of the Cilacap Prosecutor's Office in Central Java.
The three turned down the chance to ask for a pardon when they met with prosecutors and judges on Wednesday in their cells on the prison island of Nusakambangan in Central Java, said I Wayan Suwilah, a prosecutor who took part.
The three have said they carried out the attacks on two nightclubs packed with foreign tourists to avenge the deaths of Muslims in Israel and Afghanistan.
"You should be proud because someone is brave enough to resist America," a smiling Amrozi said, according to another prosecutor.
Public calls for a rapid execution of the three men have mounted since a second series of attacks on Bali earlier this month killed 23 people, including three suicide bombers.
A crowd of more than 1,000 last week ripped down the large steel gates that guarded Kerobokan, the Bali prison that had housed the three convicted bombers until they were moved to the more secure facility on Nusakambangan.
After receiving an answer from the convicted bombers, Susilo said the legal team would now visit the families of the three to ask whether they planned to seek presidential pardons on their behalf.
Indonesian law says the convicts cannot be executed until all legal avenues have been exhausted.
The law also says that families of prisoners on death row and their lawyers can seek pardons on their behalf.
The attorney general's spokesman, Mashudi Ridwan, said judges would ask the families and lawyers if they plan to do so before setting an execution date.
On Tuesday, Bali Police chief Insp. Gen. Made Mangku Pastika warned that speeding up the execution of the three could provoke a militant backlash and trigger more attacks.
Some political analysts have said their execution could make them martyrs in the eyes of Indonesia's militant fringe and a tool for recruitment.
The three have been on death row for around two years. They are part of some 30 militants convicted over the 2002 blasts.
Those convicted in the Bali bombings were identified as members of the al-Qaida-linked regional terror group Jamaah Islamiyah, which is also suspected of involvement in the Oct. 1 attacks.