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Death row Bali bombers to get month to seek clemency

Source
Reuters - December 19, 2007

Denpasar – Three Indonesian Islamic militants facing execution for the 2002 Bali bombings will get one month to seek presidential clemency after being officially notified of the rejection of their final appeal, a prosecutor said on Wednesday.

Made Sudarmaja, the chief prosecutor in the Balinese capital Denpasar, spoke after a court official said a copy of a Supreme Court verdict rejecting the convicts' final appeal would be delivered to them next week.

"If after one month they failed to request presidential clemency, execution would be immediately carried out," Sudarmaja told reporters.

The three men – Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Mukhlas – have said they will not seek clemency from Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, saying they wanted to die as martyrs.

I Bagus Madeg, a spokesman for the Denpasar district court, where the Bali bombers were tried, said his office had received the copy of the Supreme Court verdict.

"We will convey the contents of the verdict to the convicts and their families as soon as possible," he said, adding that he expected officials to deliver the papers on Friday or Saturday.

Sudarmaji said the justice ministry had approved a request by the Bali prosecutors' office not to execute the militants on the island due to concerns about possible negative effects on tourism.

He said Nusakambangan, the prison island off the southern coast of Java where the three were being held, was among three locations being considered for a possible execution site.

The two nightclub blasts on Bali's Kuta strip on October 12, 2002 killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, and devastated the island's tourist industry.

The attacks have been blamed on the Southeast Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiah (JI).

In a statement read out by their lawyers two months ago, the convicted Bali bombers said their blood would "become the light for the faithful ones and burning hell fire for the infidels and hypocrites."

(Writing by Ahmad Pathoni, editing by Ed Davies)

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