[Reader-list] Bali's smiling assassins

Pawan Durani pawan.durani at gmail.com
Thu Oct 2 00:13:29 IST 2008


http://www.theage.com.au/national/balis-smiling-assassins-hold-court-20081001-4s19.html

ACTING more like pop stars than prisoners, the three Bali bombers held court
in the centre of Nusakambangan Island's prison yesterday in what should be
their last public appearance before facing firing squads.

Smiling and defiant, Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra refused to discuss
their feelings about execution.

But they vowed that more bombings were already planned to avenge their
deaths and "friends" would kill the prison guards and police responsible.

And they steadfastly shunned any remorse for the 2002 Bali bombings that
left 202 dead, 88 of them Australians.

The three, who are to be executed by the end of the year - possibly within
days - were the centre of attention for media, prison wardens and prisoners
during celebrations marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

After talking freely to journalists, they raised their fists and led inmates
in chants of "Allahu akbar" (God is great).

During a mass prayer in the prison quadrangle, they smiled and joked, with
Amrozi wrapping an affectionate arm around a warden.

Amrozi said he had no regrets about killing 88 Australians. "Why regret?
They were targets."

Samudra said he felt no sympathy for the victims. "All of the Westerners are
infidels," he said. "I never say sorry to non-Muslims, I never say sorry to
Australians."

Samudra said more bombings were planned to follow the executions. "Our side
is ready."

Mukhlas, Amrozi's brother and overall commander of the attacks as
operational head of the Jemaah Islamiah network in Java, said he had no last
wishes.

When a guard tried to usher him back to his cell, Mukhlas shoved him aside
proclaiming: "I am sure the people who execute us will be executed by Allah.
It is a big crime to execute people like us, holy warriors. Everyone who is
involved will be cursed. Everybody, the President, the ministers, prison
wardens, even the guy who opens the cell must be killed."

Despite saying they wished to die as martyrs, the trio have used legal
manoeuvres to avoid execution. Their final Constitutional Court challenge to
Indonesia's death penalty - claiming firing squads are inhumane - is
continuing, but the court has no legal power to prevent the executions.

Meanwhile, local families of victims of the second Bali bombing, which
killed 20 people, including four Australians, placed wreaths at Australia's
consulate in Denpasar to commemorate the third anniversary.

Though nine terrorists involved in the first and second bombings were
recommended for remissions to celebrate the end of Ramadan, their sentence
cuts were not announced along with others yesterday.


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