In a last-gasp effort to avoid execution, three Islamic militants on death row for the 2002 Bali bomb attacks began court proceedings Monday in a Bali court.
Known as the Bali bombers, the three men face death by firing squad for their part in the two nightclub explosions that killed more than 200 people, including foreign tourists and Indonesians.
A lawyer for the three men asked the court in Denpasar, Bali's capital, to consider a case review.
The Supreme Court struck down the three men's final appeal in March 2004, and rejected a similar request for a case review last year. Prosecutors said they would be executed soon unless they sought clemency from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
The three bombers have repeatedly said they will not appeal to the president for clemency, saying they want to die as martyrs.
Their lawyers previously argued that the first case review was not heard according to proper procedures. They also said that the Constitutional Court had struck down retroactive provisions in anti-terrorism laws, which were written in the wake of the 2002 attacks and used to convict the three men.
At Monday's court hearing in Denpasar for Imam Samudra, the prosecutor dismissed the request for a case review as a bid to delay the executions.
The presiding judge said the hearing would resume next week, when the judges would respond to the request. Under Indonesian law, the Bali court will submit results of the review to the Supreme Court, which will then pass a verdict.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article