AGO delays execution of Bali bombers

Dian Kuswandini , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 08/28/2008 10:08 AM | Headlines

The three Bali bombers on death row will not face a firing squad before the start of the Ramadan fasting month early next month.

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has decided to postpone indefinitely the execution of Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, Imam Samudra and Ali Gufron, despite claiming to have completed all necessary procedures to move forward.

Deputy Attorney General for General Crimes Abdul Hakim Ritonga on Wednesday said the imminent holidays had affected the decision.

The executions were earlier scheduled to be carried out before Ramadan, which starts on Sept. 1 this year, according to Attorney General Hendarman Supandji.

Ritonga said the delay was out of reasons of humanity and that executions were not in accord with the holy event of Ramadan.

The AGO wants to allow the death-row convicts to observe their last religious activities during the fasting month, he said.

"Following several considerations, the attorney general has finally decided that there will be no execution until after the fasting month is over. The timing is just not right. But he has promised the executions will be carried out some time this year," Ritonga said.

However, he could not specify a date. "We don't know the exact date yet. The attorney general is still considering it."

Ritonga denied any request from the convicts and their lawyers or pressure from hard-line Muslim groups had contributed to the decision to stay the executions.

"It (the postponement) isn't their last request. We haven't asked them about that yet. Our main considerations are purely to respect the holy month and Muslims, including to allow the convicts to carry out their last religious activities."

"Nor are there pressures at all. The instruction came straight from Hendarman, without any intervention from anyone," Ritonga said.

He said the delay would not affect any legal efforts currently being made by the bombers' lawyers to challenge the executions through the Constitutional Court.

The team of Muslim lawyers is requesting the court to review an article that allows for the execution of a convict by firing squad, claiming the move is unconstitutional because it constitutes torture.

They demanded their clients be beheaded, a move which is not recognized in the Constitution.

"The convicts will be shot, not beheaded as they have requested," Ritongan said.

He said the AGO had already completed all formal and legal procedures for the executions.

The three terrorists were sentenced to death in 2003 for masterminding the 2002 bombings in Kuta, Bali, that killed 202 people, including 88 Australian tourists.

Currently, the men are being isolated from other inmates at Batu penitentiary of the Nusakambangan maximum security prison in Cilacap, Central Java.

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