June 19
INDONESIA:
SC rejects death sentence appeal of Bali bomber
Indonesias Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Bali bombings
mastermind Imam Samudra against his conviction and death sentence; a judge
was quoted as saying Friday.
"We have made a decision on his appeal case. We rejected that appeal,"
German Hudiarto was quoted as saying by Indo Pos newspaper. If the report
were confirmed, Samudra would be the 2nd key bomber on death row to have
his appeal rejected by the Supreme Court, after Amrozi.
Amrozi is seeking a judicial review of his conviction by a different panel
of Supreme Court judges in a final attempt to escape a firing squad,
Samudras lawyer Wirawan Adnan told AFP he had not been notified of the
courts ruling but was not surprised.
"Rejected or not, it does not matter. What remains to be seen is whether
the government has the guts to execute him," Adnan said. Investigators
believe Samudra is a leading member of the al-Qaeda -linked Jemaah
Islamiyah (JI) militant group, which staged the attack on two crowded
nightclubs to avenge Western oppression of Muslims worldwide. The bombings
on October 12, 2002, killed 202 people mostly Western holidaymakers. The
Afghanistan-trained Samudra had once said he would welcome death as
bringing him closer to God.
(source: Hi Pakistan)
