July 30, 2008 12:00am
THE death row Bali bombers want to be beheaded instead of being shot by a firing squad.
They are appealing to the Indonesian Constitutional Court on the grounds that death by firing squad is torture.
The three want to be beheaded in the way that capital punishment is carried out under strict Islamic law.
They will claim that prisoners can take too long to die when shot.
Their lawyers denied the move was a tactic to delay the executions, which authorities said were imminent.
Lawyer Mahendradatta said the issue was about ensuring due processes of law were followed when it came to irreversible punishment and not about saving the lives of Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra.
The lawyers will meet Attorney-General Hendarman Supandji tomorrow to complain that the latest appeal knockback by the Supreme Court was in the form of a letter signed by a court clerk and not a decision by judges.
Mr Mahendradatta said the Constitutional Court appeal would argue that death by firing squad could be torture. If the firing squad does not kill the prisoner immediately, the commander has what is known as an amnesty shot with his pistol.
"The regulation itself admits that there is a possibility that one shot is not going to kill the prisoner, which means it is torture," he said.
"The constitution says the right not to be tortured cannot be reduced under any circumstances.
"They (the bombers) are on the death sentence not torture.
"Amrozi and the others are ready to die, not only today but since they got the first verdict in Denpasar. But this is about the law and precedent."
Executions should be carried out only when all legal procedures had been followed properly, he added.
"If they want to execute Amrozi and the others, just go ahead -- but say it is in the name of revenge because if you want to execute them by the regulations then you have to follow all the procedures of the law."
Mr Mahendradatta said the Muslim Lawyer Team, which represents all three condemned men, would meet the Attorney-General and press him to make sure the law was followed.
"We are going to go to the Attorney-General to ask them to obey the law. I have never seen a situation before where a clerk makes a court ruling."
It is unlikely the Constitutional Court appeal would stop the executions. Authorities want the executions carried out before Ramadan, the Islamic fasting month, which starts in September.
Attorney-General Hendarman Supandji has previously said appeal or no appeal, the executions would go ahead.
Prosecutors in Bali, who are in charge of arranging the executions of the bombers who killed 202 people in 2002, say everything is ready and they're waiting for a date.
The three will be executed on Nusa Kambangan Island, off the coast of Central Java, where their jail is located.
Source: HeraldSun
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