[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Oct. 13



INDONESIA:

Bali bombers will not appeal for clemency - report


3 Indonesian militants on death row for their involvement in planning the
Bali bombings 5 years ago said on Saturday they were ready to die and
would not seek a presidential pardon.

Imam Samudra, Amrozi and Mukhlas, also known as Ali Gufron, were sentenced
to death for the Oct. 12, 2002 resort island bombings in which over 200
people died. They face execution by a firing squad after the country's top
court rejected their appeal.

"Clemency is not from Islamic law. I have been living as a Muslim and will
die as a Muslim," state news agency Antara quoted Imam Samudra as saying
after Eid al-Fitr prayers at their prison mosque on Nusakambangan island
in Central Java.

"Clemency is only proposed by guilty people and we are not among the
guilty people," he said. "Even were we to die right now, God willing, we
will enter heaven as martyrs."

The three men have already said in a statement read by their lawyers that
they will not seek a presidential pardon and that if they are executed,
their death will bring "light to the faithful and burning hellfire for the
infidels".

Indonesia's Constitutional Court is expected to rule on Oct. 30 on a
petition challenging the legality of the death penalty which was filed by
lawyers for six Australians on death row for drug trafficking in Bali.

It is not clear if a decision in favour of the petition would affect the
fate of the Bali bombers.

Hundreds of activists, religious leaders and other Indonesians have signed
a petition calling on the government to scrap the death penalty
altogether.

"Various studies show that the death penalty has no deterrent effects,"
said a statement by the Alliance for the Abolition of the Death Penalty.

Signatories includes leaders of Indonesia's main religions, Islam,
Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Amnesty International has also appealed to Indonesia to commute all death
sentences and spare the Bali bombings trio.

"Executions can create martyrs whose memories become a rallying point for
their organisations," Amnesty said in a statement.

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.

But analysts say the security threat from Jemaah Islamiah (JI) appears to
have been contained.

"The threat from JI is much less than it was five years ago," said Sidney
Jones, Southeast Asia director of the International Crisis Group
think-tank. "JI still exists as an organisation but most of its members
aren't interested in bombing."

The last big bomb attack in Indonesia was over 2 years ago when three
Islamic militants blew themselves up in beachside restaurants in Bali,
killing 20 people.

(source: Reuters)