Jakarta – Uncertainty over the execution dates of the three men convicted of the 2002 Bali bombings has raised concerns in the home countries of many of the victims.
Junior Attorney for General Crimes Abdul Hakim Ritonga said Wednesday that his institution realized that the international community had a serious interest in the executions of the convicts.
"The main parties that are uneasy about delayed executions are of course the countries where most of the bombing victims originated, like Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom," he said.
He said that the governments of those countries had already sent letters through the Foreign Ministry questioning the follow up on the death sentences handed down to the three. "The letters have already been conveyed to us," he said.
He said the executions had been postponed because the Attorney General's Office is yet to receive a copy of the Supreme Court letter instructing when the executions should be carried out.
The court rejected the case reviews of Imam Samudra and Ali Gufron on Sept. 24, while a case review on behalf of Amrozi was turned down on Sept. 10.
"Until today, the Denpasar Prosecutor's Office has only received verdict letters and that is not enough for us to conduct the executions. We must go along with the rules. That's why we are still unable to conduct the executions.
"Regarding the letters from foreign countries, we responded to the Foreign Ministry that that kind of letter is very normal and should not be considered as an intervention in Indonesian law sovereignty."
Gufron, Samudra and Amrozi were sentenced to death for the Oct. 12, 2002 bombings on the resort island, which killed 202 people. They are currently being held at the Nusakambangan super maximum security prison in Central Java. All three convicts are reportedly affiliated with the Southeast Asian terror network Jamaah Islamiyah.
The convicts' lawyers have filed a second case review, a rare move as reviews are generally only filed once, with the court, which has yet to accept or to reject the request.
Should the Court decided to accept their request, the executions could be delayed further. Prosecutors are also still waiting to see if the convicts will apply for a presidential pardon.
Ritonga said the three would be executed at the same time. "So it will not raise fears in any of them," he said.
In August 2003, Jamaah Islamiyah was responsible for a bombing at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, and in September 2004 for an attack on the Australian Embassy. In October 2005, the group struck again in Bali. (uwi)