Bali Bombers Lose Final Appeal of Executions

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia has rejected the final appeals of three Islamic militants convicted in the deadly 2002 Bali bombings, bringing them closer to execution, a court official said today.The Denpasar District Court head, Nyoman Gede Wirya, said he received a letter from the Supreme Court saying it had dismissed the appeal for a last review. The court had rejected two other similar petitions from them.He said Ali Ghufron, Imam Samudra, and Amrozi Nurhasyim will now be formally asked whether they want to appeal to the president for clemency — their only remaining way to avoid the death sentence.The three men have repeatedly said they will not ask for clemency because such a request has to be accompanied by an admission of wrongdoing.Their lawyer, Mohammad Mahendradata, said he had yet to be informed of the decision. He said he would attempt to challenge it further, but gave no more details.The men were convicted in 2003 of planning and carrying out the October 12, 2002, blasts at two packed nightclubs on the resort island, which killed 202 people, most of them foreign tourists.In interviews and prison writings, they have never expressed remorse, saying the attacks were in revenge for Muslim deaths in Afghanistan and elsewhere and were sanctioned under their interpretation of Islam.Around 30 militants were convicted in total, though at least four suspects remain at large.Indonesia never reveals in advance the timing of executions, but there were no indications today that they were imminent.The attacks were carried out by members and associates of Jemaah Islamiyah, a local network of mostly Afghan-trained militants, with Al Qaeda providing money and some expertise, police and former militants say.Islamic militants have carried out three other major attacks on Western targets in Indonesia since then, the last in 2005, also on Bali, when three suicide bombers killed 11 people in restaurant attacks.The executions could trigger a backlash in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, but most analysts expect any reaction to be small and limited to a show of solidarity at their funerals.Only a few Web sites and magazines run articles praising the bombers, and mainstream Muslims politicians and clerics are unlikely to publicly criticize the secular government for carrying out the executions.Despite saying they were happy to die a martyrs death, the trio have challenged the convictions in the courts, saying they were illegal because they were based on an anti-terror law passed after the attacks.In 2004, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court ruled that the law could not be applied retroactively.But officials and the courts ignored the ruling and have said the Constitutional Court’s decision itself could not be applied retroactively.

Bali Bombers Lose Final Appeal of Executions

Bali Bombers Lose Final Appeal of Executions

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