[Kabar-indonesia] Bali bombers' appeal won't come until next year: lawyers

[Joyo at aol.com]

Bali bombers' appeal won't come until next year: lawyers

By Olivia Rondonuwu

DENPASAR, November 8 (AAP) - Lawyers for three Islamic
militants on death row over the 2002 Bali terrorist blasts
insist they will wait until next year to lodge a last-ditch
appeal against their execution.

Indonesia's top prosecutor has warned the three to file
their judicial review by early next month or face the firing
squad.

Indonesian general prosecutor Abdul Rahman Saleh said the
prosecutors would only wait until December before executing
the trio bombers Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, Imam Samudra and Ali
Ghufron, alias, Mukhlas because they have been waiting for
too long.

The three have been on death row for more than two years
after courts convicted them of playing lead roles in the
October 2002 Bali nightclub bombings.

The attacks killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

The executions of the three - originally set down for July -
were delayed after their lawyers said they planned to lodge
a last-ditch appeal, a Judicial Review, in the Indonesian
Supreme Court.

However, the legal team is still yet to do so, with no
deadline set under Indonesian law.

Lawyers for the three have repeatedly told journalists they
would lodge the appeal "soon".

One of their lawyers, Qadhar Faisal, said the prosecutor
general had every right to set a date for execution, but no
legal basis to set a time limit to lodge the appeal.

"Don't make it sound like it is an immediate effect, because
based on the law, the prosecutor general has no right to
tell us when to lodge the appeal," Faisal said.

He said it would be "a bad precedent in justice history to
execute someone without first giving him a chance to seek
judicial review and clemency".

Under Indonesian law, prosecutors must give convicts the
widest chance possible to find a legal avenue to decrease
their sentence, either by seeking a judicial review or
clemency from the president, or both.

"This is an extraordinary appeal, and everybody has to
respect it because it is a death sentence," Faisal said.

Balinese foundation Sandhi Murti said the people of Bali
were growing frustrated with the slow pace of the legal
procedures.
"A long time ago when the Balinese demanded the government
to execute Amrozi etc, the law said not yet," foundation
head Gusti Agung Ngurah Harta said.

"If we say that the Balinese were frustrated with the
government's decision, the answer is yes.

"But to us what is important now is for Indonesia to be safe
and secure for us to find a living.

"Balinese believe in Karmic law, of someone will harvest
what they have planted."

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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