Indonesia has delayed the executions of three Islamic militants convicted for the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people after the men said they wanted to file a final appeal, officials said yesterday.
Amrozi Nurhasyim, Ali Gufron and Imam Samudra were among more than 30 people convicted in the twin nightclub bombings on the resort island, which officials say were carried out by the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group.
They confessed to the crime but last month authorized lawyers to file a final appeal, known as a judicial review, averting today's planned execution by firing squad, said I Wayan Pasek Suarta, spokesman for the attorney general.
"We have to respect the rights of the convicts because they have informed us that they want to file a final appeal ... so the execution cannot be carried out," he said.
No new date was immediately announced.
The suicide bombings, which killed mostly foreign tourists, were followed by annual terrorist attacks in the world's most populous Muslim nation blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah that together killed another 40 people. After a second round of bombings on Bali last year, the government agreed to speed up the executions of Nurhasyim, Gufron and Samudra amid concerns they still wielded influence over other militants.
But lawyers for the three argued that the anti-terror law used to convict them was applied retroactively.
While the militants have signed a request for a judicial review, they have not yet presented it to the Supreme Court, lawyer Muhammad Mahendradatta said. They were waiting to hear if a change of venue request for their review trial had been granted, he said, claiming Bali's district court in Denpasar was biased against them.
In the past, the three defendants have said they wanted to die and become martyrs for their cause. None has expressed regret for the attacks. Samudra, who is said to have coordinated the blasts, has defended them in a book as a legitimate part of a holy war against the West.
Analysts say the timing of the executions may be linked to those of three Christian militants on death row for their roles in sectarian violence on Sulawesi island six years ago that left 200 Muslims dead.
They say it would be politically difficult for the government to execute the Bali bombers before placing the Christians -- who represent a minority in Indonesia -- before a firing squad.
The Christian men won a last-minute stay of execution earlier this month and while Indonesian officials insist the executions will eventually go forward, no new date has been set.
The government has denied a link between the timing of the separate executions.
The father of an Australian man killed in the Bali bombings welcomed the delay. Brian Deegan, whose 21-year-old son Josh died in the attack, wrote to Amnesty International last week requesting that Indonesia spare the men's lives.
"From a legal point of view, I am happy about the decision because everyone has the same rights as everyone else regardless of the crime so their right to appeal should be respected," Deegan said. "The only downside is that this for me delays the grieving process. I just wish it could be all put to rest so that I could put it behind me."
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS