http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2008/11/20081165575676184.html
Thursday, November 06, 2008
10:07 Mecca time, 07:07 GMT
Fallout fears from Bali executions
By Step Vaessen in Jakarta
The attacks in Bali's tourist district were the bloodiest in
Indonesian history [GALLO/GETTY]
With the long-anticipated executions of the Bali bombers now imminent,
Indonesia is bracing for the potential security and political fallout of the
bombers' deaths.
The three men sentenced to die for the attacks are expecdted to face a
firing squad on the Nusakambangan prison island off central Java in the next
few days, possibly the next few hours.
Indonesia's attorney general has said the sentences will be carried out
before November 15 and officials clearly hope the executions will draw a line
under a bloody chapter in the country's history.
The executions have been planned several times before, but on each
occasion they were postponed for reasons that remain unclear.
They were canceled at the last minute in August this year when the
Islamic fasting month of Ramadan was approaching.
Security risks
Family members have had final visits to the condemned men [Reuters]
Sources have told Al Jazeera that a lot of effort is made to pick the
right moment so security risks will be limited.
Even so, authorities are braced for a violent backlash from supporters of
the bombers after they are executed.
The greatest fear is that a fresh wave of bomb attacks will follow.
The three condemned men, two brothers, Amrozi and Mukhlas from East Java
and Imam Samudra from West Java have repeatedly told the media that their
deaths would be avenged.
Meanwhile several analysts have criticised the government for allowing
access to the men on death row on an unlimited basis, so they could make their
threats over and over again - possibly firing up supporters to take action.
The attacks in Bali in the evening of October 12, 2002 were the most
bloody in Indonesian history.
The largest bomb, weighing more than a tonne, was packed in a van that
exploded in front of the Sari Club, a bar popular with Australian holidaymakers.
It went off shortly after a smaller device, carried in a backpack,
detonated inside the Paddy's Club nearby. The two bombs were designed to
maximise casualties.
Altogether 202 people died - among them 88 Australians and 38 Indonesians.
Judicial process
The convicted bombers were sentenced to death in 2003 [GALLO/GETTY]
It took the tourist industry on Bali years to recover, while deep scars
remain for those who survived.
Within a month of the attack, Amrozi Nurhasiym, a car mechanic from East
Java was arrested.
The plate number of the van used in the attack had given him away.
Amrozi was to become known to many by the nickname "the smiling bomber"
because of his jovial appearance during his trial.
When the court passed its verdict and sentenced him to death, he cheered
and punched the air.
Two month's after Amrozi's arrest, his older brother Mukhlas and computer
expert Imam Samudra, the man prosecutors say was the field commander for the
attack, were arrested too.
In 2003 all three men were sentenced to death. A third brother Ali Imron
was also implicated in the attack but he got a prison sentence after he decided
to cooperate with the police.
According to terrorism experts, Mukhlas is a former leader of Jemaah
Islamiyah (JI), a South-East Asian group that advocates the creation of an
Islamic state, by violence if necessary.
Terrorism links
According to Western intelligence agencies, JI has close connections with
Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.
The attacks on packed nightspots killed 202 mainly foreign
holidaymakers [AFP]
Mukhlas and Imam Samudra both fought in Afganistan in the 1980s, and
Mukhlad was said to have known bin Laden personally, even naming one of his
children after him.
During the trial, evidence was shown by prosecutors that the Bali attacks
were planned early in 2002 in a meeting in Bangkok where Mukhlas received
around $30,000.
The three men have never shown any remorse, although they have apologised
for the Indonesian Muslims who died during the attacks.
As for themselves, while their lawyers have fought a seemingly endless
legal battle against their execution, the three bombers have repeatedly said
they are happy to die as martyrs.
The families and supporters of the men say that as soon as their bodies
are released, they will be given a hero's funeral.
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