Further delay possible for Bali bombers

Further delay possible for Bali bombers
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The execution of the islamist fundamentalists responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people could face further delays.

The possibility of the sentences against Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, Imam Samudra and Ali Ghufron being delayed further was flagged by an expert on Indonesian law from the University of Indonesia (UI) on Thursday.

Churdy Sitompul said Chapter 7 of the 2002 law on presidential pardons stipulated that there was no time limit in which a convict must submit a request for a presidential pardon.

The comments from Sitompul followed a statement by Indonesian Attorney General Hendarman Supandji that the Government would wait another month for the convicted bombers to apply for a pardon before scheduling their executions.

Bali bombing memorial wall in Kuta
Bali bombing memorial wall in Kuta Jonathan Liem/ Wikepedia

“I will give them another month to decide whether they will file the request or not. If it turns out that they refuse to exercise the right then we will execute them as soon as possible,” Supandi was reported in The Jakarta Post as saying.

However Situmpul said the way the law currently stands it can easily be manipulated and further delays to the death sentences being carried out could occur.

Once a request for a presidential pardon is filed a prisoner can not be executed until the request is processed he said.

Sitompul said the Indonesian government should amend the presidential pardon law to set a finite period in which prisoners must submit an application for a presidential pardon.

The three bombers were sentenced to death in 2006 over the deadly bombing outside two crowded nightclubs, the Sari Club and Paddy’s Pub, in Legian Street Kuta on October 12, 2002 that killed 164 foreigners and at least 38 Indonesians.

The three appealed against the original sentences but in August this year the Supreme Court of Indonesia refused to grant the three a judicial review.

The decision by the Supreme Court paved the way for the sentences to be carried out without further delay, however the Indonesian Government has appeared to be in no hurry to execute the three.

Bali’s police chief is on record as saying that a firing squad had already been chosen to conduct the execution, while Bali’s Governor has said the death penalty should be carried out on the resort island where the attacks occurred.

 

 

Feature photo X-Ray Screener

 

 

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John Le Fevre is an Australian national with more than 40 years experience as a journalist, photographer, videographer and editor.

He has spent extensive periods of time working in Africa and throughout Southeast Asia, with stints in the Middle East, the USA, and England.

He has covered major world events including Operation Desert Shield/ Storm, the 1991 pillage in Zaire, the 1994 Rwanda genocide, the 1999 East Timor independence unrest, the 2004 Asian tsunami, and the 2009, 2010, and 2014 Bangkok political protests.

In 1995 he was a Walkley Award finalist, the highest awards in Australian journalism, for his coverage of the 1995 Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) Ebola outbreak.

Most recently he was the Thailand editor/ managing editor of AEC News Today . Prior to that he was the deputy editor and Thailand and Greater Mekong Sub-region editor for The Establishment Post, predecessor of Asean Today.

In the mid-80s and early 90s he owned JLF Promotions, the largest above and below the line marketing and PR firm servicing the high-technology industry in Australia. It was sold in 1995.

Opinions and views expressed on this site are those of the author’s only. Read more at About me

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