Update:
Stephen Fitzpatrick, Jakarta | August 06, 2008
LAWYERS for the three death-row Bali bombers have lodged a last-ditch appeal they hope will delay their clients' executions for up to two years.
The appeal, in Indonesia's Constitutional Court, will argue that the country's method of execution - - by firing squad - - is inhumane.
However a spokesman from the Attorney-General's office dismissed the move yesterday, saying it would have no impact on plans to execute Imam Samudra, Amrozi bin Nurhasyim and Ali Ghufron, aka Mukhlas.
"There is no plan to put off the executions," said the spokesman, Bonaventura Daulat Nainggolan. "We are continuing with preparations."
Indonesia's Constitutional Court operates outside the legal justice system so the appeal does not automatically figure in the normal avenue of options open to a convicted person.
The court's Chief Justice, Jimly Assidique, said last week that should an appeal be lodged, he would hope the criminal system would respect it by delaying the men's executions.
However Justice Minister Andi Mattalatta yesterday described the Constitutional Court review as "irrelevant" to the carrying out of a criminal sentence, saying "execution is one thing; the constitutional court is another".
Lawyer for the bombers Wirawan Adnan said he expected the matter to take up to two years in the Constitutional Court, "but if the prosecution wants to execute, that's up to them; (although) I predict they will wait".
The three men could be executed within days, with Attorney-General Hendarman Supandji saying recently he hoped the sentence would be carried out "before Ramadan" - the main Muslim religious period, which begins in three weeks.
Preparations have already been made on the remote southern Java prison island of Nusakambangan for their deaths.
There is expected to be a violent outcry from hardline Muslims to the executions, particularly in the East Java hometown of Amrozi and Mukhlas.
Source: The Australian
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