Bali’s death row bombers decline to seek pardon

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Three Indonesian militants on death row
for playing major roles in the 2002 Bali bombings have refused
to request a presidential pardon and are ready to face the
firing squad, a prosecutor said on Thursday.

The decision could bring forward their execution, something
ordinary Balinese have demanded in numerous protests on the
resort island this month.

Joko Subagyo, state prosecutor in the central Java city of
Cilacap, said lawmakers from Bali as well as himself and other
local prosecutors notified the three convicted bombers of their
rights to request a presidential pardon on Wednesday.

The three militants, Imam Samudra, Amrozi and Ali Gufron,
were shipped from Bali to a prison island not far from Cilacap
this month as protests and anger grew in the wake of the latest
suicide blasts on Bali on October 1 that killed 20 people.

“We went to see them separately and they all rejected sign
a form requesting the presidential pardon,” Subagyo told
Reuters by telephone.

“They said ‘I am ready to be executed anytime soon.”‘

Cilacap is a short ferry ride from the high-security prison
island of Nusakambangan where the three are being held.

Under Indonesian law, execution, which is by firing squad,
cannot be carried out until all legal procedures have been
exhausted. The families of the convicted, however, also have
the right to request a presidential pardon.

“The families have now been notified but as far as I know,
we haven’t got any reply from them,” Subagyo said.

The October 12, 2002 bombings at two nightclubs in Bali
killed 202 people, mainly foreign tourists. Police blamed
Jemaah Islamiah, an al Qaeda-linked network, for the atrocity.

On Tuesday, Bali police chief Made Mangku Pastika warned
that speeding up the execution of the three could provoke a
militant backlash and trigger more attacks.

Some political analysts have said their execution could
make them martyrs in the eyes of Indonesia’s militant fringe
and a tool for recruitment.

The three have been on death row for around two years. They
are part of some 30 militants convicted over the 2002 blasts.

Citing security concerns, authorities moved the three death
row militants from their Bali jail just a day before it was
stormed by hundreds of protesters last week.