Bali bombers granted another appeal Mark Forbes, Jakarta February 5, 2008 The AGE THREE of the Bali bombers have again staved off firing squads, after a last-minute reversal by Indonesia's Supreme Court allowed them to launch another appeal against their convictions. Denpasar District Court head Nyoman Gde Wirya said the Supreme Court had ordered him to hear the appeals, which claim the convictions of Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra were invalid as they were obtained by retrospective use of an anti-terrorism law. The three had been expected to be executed early this month. The decision came as a surprise, as the men had supposedly exhausted all legal avenues and had already argued unsuccessfully that their convictions were invalid as the law was not in place at the time of the bombing. If the appeal is successful, they will probably be set free on this technicality. A spokesman for Indonesia's Attorney-General said last month they were likely to be executed quickly if they did not lodge an appeal for clemency with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono by the end of January, which they have not done. Lawyers for the men submitted their appeal requests to a court in Java and Bali in the latest of a series of manoeuvres apparently designed to keep the men alive for as long as possible, despite their stated desire to be martyrs. The three were due to be executed in 2006, but their executions were halted after they sought an initial judicial review, which was rejected late last year. Indonesian law makes no provision for a second judicial review of cases. Judge Nyoman said yesterday that he had appointed three judges - one to handle each of the appeals. A lawyer for the men, Achmad Michdan, said he would visit their prison tomorrow to tell them of the decision. "This is something quite positive," he said. "We are glad that the Supreme Court has finally acknowledged this." The court had erred by rejecting the first judicial review, as it did not hold an open hearing, he said. Melbourne man David Stewart, whose son Anthony died in the bombings, said the three should be executed immediately. "I expected this. I really did," he said after hearing of the latest setback. "The Indonesian Government don't want to execute them . in case some of those bastards let off more bombs. This will go on for a long time yet, I think." Monica Sanderson, whose son Greg was on a trip with the Forbes Rugby Club when he died in the bombings, was shaken by the news: "It's never over, is it?" Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said last night that, while he understood many Australians felt strongly about the issue, any decision on a review of the sentences was "a matter for the Indonesian legal system". The men, all of whom were members of the Jemaah Islamiah terrorist network, played key roles in the Kuta nightclub bombings in Bali, on October 12, 2002, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. They have continued to call on Muslims to fight the West and have apologised for killing Muslims, but have never expressed remorse for the other victims. With MICHELLE GRATTAN, AGENCIES . <http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97359714/grpId=11648958/grpspId=1705447214/msgI d=54769/stime=1202165769/nc1=3848614/nc2=3848640/nc3=5170420> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
