INDONESIA: The family of one of the Bali bombers visits for the last time before executions

Record ID: 356048

  • Title: INDONESIA: The family of one of the Bali bombers visits for the last time before executions
  • Date: 22nd November 2007
  • Summary: CAMERAMAN IMAM SAMUDRA, AMROZI, AND LAWYER TEAM IMAM SAMUDRA JOURNALISTS TAKE A PICTURE BEHIND THE GLASS VIEW OF HALL MUKHLAS SURROUNDED BY HIS FAMILY MEMBERS
  • Embargoed: 7th December 2007 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Indonesia
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Reuters ID: LVAA7STU2WLYU2GJ5AOYY9TKC3Y2
  • Story Text: One of the militants responsible for the Bali bombs meets with his family at Indonesia's high security Batu Prison.
    One of three Indonesians sentenced to die for the 2002 Bali blasts said on Thursday (November 22) the trio plan to ask the country's top court to review their case in a last bid to stop their execution.
    Imam Samudra, Amrozi and Mukhlas, also known as Ali Gufron, were sentenced to death for the resort island bombings in which more than 200 people died, most of them foreigners.
    They face execution by firing squad after the country's Supreme Court rejected their final appeal, unless President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pardons them.
    Yudhoyono has said the death sentence for the three Islamic militants must be carried out, hinting in a television interview that he will not grant them clemency.
    The three bombers have repeatedly said they will not appeal to the president for clemency, saying they want to die as martyrs.
    "I give you all my last will, the important things in our religious are praying and jihad," Mukhlas said to journalists during a family visiting session.
    Mukhlas's wife, Paridah binti Abbas, and her children flew from neighbouring Malaysia for what is likely to be their last visit before the execution, accompanied by a defense lawyer for the three bombers.
    In the two-hour reunion Mukhlas read out a list of messages for his children, including prohibiting them from working for a democratic and secular government and urging them to continue his jihad to defend the right path of Islam.
    Imam Samudra said that they were ready to die but they wanted their case review to be heard and a halt on all execution plans because it was against Islamic law and criminal code.
    Lawyers for the three Muslim militants had earlier sought a review of their case, arguing that anti-terrorism laws, which were written in the wake of the 2002 attacks, cannot be applied retrospectively. The Supreme Court turned down that appeal in September.
    Another case review is not possible under existing laws, said senior Supreme Court official Rikar Zarof. She also said that the case has already been reviewed and it was rejected.
    Lawyer, Achmad Michdan, said that the defence team would pressure the Supreme Court to overturn its decision.
    "Please don't execute us now, first because we are afraid of people regarding us as heroes and also we don't want to be buried in a heros cemetery with other infidels," Mukhlas said.
    The bombings in Bali and other attacks that have hit Indonesia in recent years have been blamed on the Southeast Asian Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiah.
    The three militants are being held in Indonesia's top security Batu Prison off the southern coast of Java.
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