We are subjected to yet more chattering and ranting from Bali bombers Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra, as they await execution.
Mukhlas has claimed, "(To) die as a martyr is my desire, my craving and my yearning." ("Bali bombers executions delayed ..." The Australian, Aug. 21, 2008).
Yet this trio has had their lawyers launch appeal after appeal against their execution. Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda has asked, "For people who killed more than 200, why are they so afraid to die?"
Their latest appeal attempts to establish that with execution by firing squad, death may not be instantaneous, but rather slow and painful (Sydney Morning Herald, Sept. 19, 2008).
Yet how many of the 202 victims of their cowardly bombings, including 88 Australian citizens, died in agony from having much of the flesh burned from their bodies, or from having their limbs blown off?
These three also threatened revenge and retribution on all involved in their execution, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (Oct. 1, 2008, Yahoo7 News).
The universal value justice requires just or appropriate punishment for heinous crimes.
Blinded by religious hatred, these three will never realize that the people they murdered were simply their fellow human beings, not "infidels", just human beings, like all of humankind, brothers and sisters all.
LES HUTCHINSON
St Maitland, NSW, Australia
