Execution looms for 3 Bali bombers after legal options fail

Execution looms for 3 Bali bombers after legal options failJakarta  - The way has been cleared for the execution of three Muslim militants convicted for their roles in the 2002 Bali bombings, Indonesian Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said Monday.

"I hope (the execution) could take place before the fasting month of Ramadan," Supandji was quoted as saying by the state-run Antara news agency.

Supandji did not specify a date or time for the execution. Ramadan, the holy month for Muslims around the world, is expected to begin in early September.

He said the men could be executed by firing squad "because they are running out of legal options" after the Supreme Court turned down the third appeal for a review.

Their last option is to appeal for clemency from Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, but the men have repeatedly stated they would not do so because they are unwilling to admit any wrongdoing.

Imam Samudra, Amrozi and his brother Ali Ghufron, alias Mukhlas, have never shown remorse for the bombings of three nightspots in Bali in 2002 that left more than 200 people dead.

The three have been on death row since 2003, when a Bali court sentenced them to death.

Bali's Denpasar District Court announced Friday that the Supreme Court has rejected their third appeal, saying convicts can only appeal for a case review once.

Supandji said his office was awaiting the Supreme Court's letter, which will be relayed from the Bali court to confirm the appeal had been rejected, before the execution can be carried out.

Indonesia does not make public the timing and exact location of executions, but a deputy attorney-general disclosed in May it would be done in Central Java.

Imam Samudra, Amrozi, known also as the "smiling assassin" and Mukhlas are being held in a maximum-security jail on Nusakambangan island, off the southern coast of central Java.

The three were members of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a regional terrorist network responsible for several bombings across Indonesia.

These include simultaneous church bombings 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)