Indonesia to execute Bali bombers despite protest

Bali BombersJakarta - Indonesia's Attorney-General's Office (AGO) on Friday insisted it would proceed with plans to execute by firing squad three Muslim militants sentenced to death over the 2002 Bali bombings, despite their lawyers' protests that such a method amounts to "torture".

Junior Attorney-General Abdul Hakim Ritonga said the executions of of Imam Samudra, Amrozi bin Nurhasyim and Ali Ghufron were legal, based on the Supreme Court's decision to reject the bombers' first appeal.

"The three will be executed by firing squad teams in line with the existing law," Ritonga told reporters. "The court's decision to reject their first appeal is enough for the AGO to carry out the executions."

Early this week, lawyers for the three militants questioned the legality of death by firing squad and said they would file a constitutional challenge to what they claimed was "torture."

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.

However, Ritonga said the law allowed convicts and their lawyers to appeal for a case review only once. He insisted that the AGO would ignore the defence plans to file a constitutional challenge, and would proceed with the execution.

In July, the Indonesian Supreme Court turned down the third appeal by the militants. Their first appeal was rejected late last year, prompting an unusual second appeal, which was later withdrawn.

Ritonga did not specify an execution date. Attorney General Hendarman Supandji disclosed last month that the three men would be executed before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which to begin in September.

Indonesian police have readied three paramilitary firing squads, with each of the 12-man teams tasked with executing one of the three bombers.

Most of the soldiers will be equipped with blank rounds in a measure to prevent psychological distress, said national police spokesman Abubakar Nataprawira.

"From the squads of 12 shooters, only three will be using real bullets," Nataprawira told reporters.

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)