JAKARTA // Indonesia will execute the Bali bombers on death row in early November, the spokesman of the Indonesian lawyer general's office said today. The three men ? Imam Samudra, Amrozi and Mukhlas, also known as Ali Ghufron ? were sentenced to death in 2003 for their roles in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people. "The Indonesian lawyer general office decided that the plan to execute Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Ali Gufron will be conducted in early November 2008," said Jasman Pandjaitan, spokesman for the lawyer general's office. He added the three had "exhausted their legal options."
The men, members of the South-east Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiyah, are currently held in a maximum-security prison island, Nusakambangan, where officials said the executions will take place. The three, who were convicted for playing key roles in the bombings, have refused to seek clemency from the Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono after the Supreme Court rejected their final appeals, saying they want to die as martyrs.
In an interview late last year, the militants said they had no regrets, except for the fact that some Muslims had died in the blasts. The two blasts on Bali's Kuta strip on Oct 12 2002 ? one at Paddy's Bar and the other at the Sari Club ? killed 202 people including 88 Australians and 38 Indonesian citizens, and dealt a severe blow to the island's tourist industry. In an earlier statement from their lawyers, the men said their blood would "become the light for the faithful ones and burning hell fire for the infidels and hypocrites".
Instead of pushing Indonesia to cut ties with countries such as the United States and Australia, the attacks seem to have deepened them. The Bali bombings and other attacks in the resort island and the capital Jakarta helped push Indonesia into a closer security relationship with Washington and Canberra as the government sought help in tackling militants. *Reuters/AFP
