Western Resistance

« UK: Muslim Disintegration, Part Two | | France: Mosque Defaced With Anti-Islam Slogans »

July 3, 2006

Indonesia: Islamist Bombers Of Bali 2002 Will Die Soon

News from Reuters via the New Zealand Herald and from Agence France Presse via The Nation states that three of the individuals who carried out the Bali bombings of October 12, 2002, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australian tourists, will be executed soon.

The three men are Imam Samudra, 36, Amrozi, 43, and Ali Ghufron, 46, alias Mukhlas (pictured, above left), all members of the Islamist terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, which seeks to establish an Islamist superstate in southeast Asia.

Mukhlas, who had spent much of his court case punching the air with his fist and shouting of his pride at being a terrorist, had been sentenced to death on October 2, 2003. His younger brother Amrozi was similarly bizarre in his reactions when he too was earlier sentenced to death on August 8, 2003. Amrozi, or Amrozi bin Haji Nurhasyim, is famous for his manic grinning and laughing. As he was led away from the court following his death sentence, he said the word "Bomb" and then started laughing and grinning. Amrozi had bought the explosives and the van which were used in the blasts.

Imam Samudra had been taciturn during the trial, but when he was sentenced to death on 10 September he shouted "Allah Akhbar" several times, and as he was led away he called for America and Australia to go to hell.

While incarcerated, Samudra (pictured below right) had become a successful author. His 281 page book, entitled "Saya Melawan Teroris" (Me Against Terrorists) , has sold at least 12,000 copies since it was first published on September 2004, going through three print runs. In November, his publishers, Jazera, decided to stop reprinting the book.

Mukhlas's wife Paridah Abas has also written a book called "People Say Father is Terrorist, and her brother has written a tome entitled "Uncovering Jemaah Islamiyah".

Bizarrely, Mukhlas and Samudra both appeared on prime-time TV in Indonesia in late November. Mukhlas said he was ""truly proud to be a terrorist." He also said "Jihad is the best way to receive blessing in Islam."

Samudra said on the Metro TV show: "If we are hit, then we hit back. In any struggle, there are victims." He blamed the West for forcing a situation where the Bali bombings were a "balanced response".

Mukhlas, Amrozi and Samudra were moved last October from their prison on Bali to Nusakambangan, an island prison, just off the southern coast of Java. They had been moved from Bali after hostility was fired up amongst the Hindu community on the island, whose tourism industry was severely damaged by the subsequent Bali bombings of October 1, 2005, which killed 20 people.

Wayan Pasek Suartha, spokesman for Indonesia's attorney-general, said at the end of last week: "We are preparing for the execution, but the place and timeframe are secret according to the law."

Usually death sentences in Indonesia, which take place with a firing squad, take place in the same region as where the death sentence was issued. But due to the hostility felt for the terrorists on Bali, the attorney-general's office has argued that Nusakambangan would be a more appropriate venue for the execution, and the three convicts are being detained there.

The three did say they would mount a token appeal on December 2, but since then they have waived their right to petition for clemency from the President of Indonesia.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at July 3, 2006 10:00 PM

Comments

Posted by: GaryK at July 3, 2006 10:42 PM

Post a comment