Bali bombers say they are ready to die

Jakarta - Three Indonesian Muslim militants on death row for the 2002 Bali bombings reaffirmed their readiness Thursday to die provided the execution is done in accordance to the Islamic laws, their lawyers said.

"In principle it (the planned execution) is no problem, as long as it has strong legal basis," Achmad Michdan, one of the three men's defence attorneys, said on his way to Nusakambangan island, off the southern coast of central Java, where the three convicts are incarcerated.

Michdan was quoted as saying by the state-run Antara news agency that the three men - Ali Ghufron, alias Muhklas, his younger brother Amrozi and Imam Samudra - were currently waiting for a legal decision from the Supreme Court of a third legal review - the latest attempt to stall their executions.

Indonesia's Supreme Court turned down the three men's final appeal in March 2004, and rejected a similar request for a case review last year.

Executions in Indonesia are by firing squad, usually carried out at night in isolated and undisclosed locations. Government prosecutors had stated recently that the three may soon be executed on the grounds that they will not seek presidential clemency.

Under Indonesian law a convict can ask for clemency from the president after legal appeals have been rejected by courts at all levels.

Amrozi, known also as the "smiling assassin," Imam Samudra and Mukhlas, were alleged members of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a regional terrorist network responsible for several bombings across Indonesia in recent years.
None of the bombers have showed any remorse over their attacks that have killed hundreds.

Imam Samudra said in an interview with an Indonesian Islamist magazine, Jahmagz, published last month, that his execution would probably prompt a revenge terrorist attack.

JI is blamed for several simultaneous church bombings across Indonesia on Christmas Eve 2000, bombings on Bali in 2002 and 2005, the bombing of a JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta in 2004 and an attack on the Australian embassy in 2005. (dpa)