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17664
Mon, 09/01/2008 - 09:59
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https://www.oananews.org//node/17664
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News Focus: BALI BOMBERS GIVEN CHANCE TO EXPERIENCE THEIR LAST FASTING MONTH
By Eliswan Azly.
Three death row inmates, Bali bombers Amrozi, Ali Ghufron and Imam Samudra still have a chance to concentrate on their ritual activity like fasting and taraweh (non-obligatory evening prayers during fasting month) this year, before facing the firing squad.
The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has postponed their execution until after the fasting month, while two of them have expressed readiness for their execution, Assistant Attorney General for General Crimes Abdul Hakim said here over the week-end.
In Islam, during the fasting month Muslims must refrain from eating and drinking between dawn and dusk for 29 or 30 days. Wars and executions must be stopped or postponed in this month. Under Islamic teachings such acts purifiy Muslims of all their sins.
"The execution has to be postponed to avoid excess, enabling them to experience their last Ramadhan," he said.
Earlier, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji had set time before the fasting montyh for the execution.
Abdul denied the decision was the result pressure from certain parties.
According to him, the decision to postpone the execution was based on humanity considerations and that an execution is against the spirit of the holy month.
The AGO wants to allow the death-row inmates to carry out their last religious activities during the fasting month, he said.
"Following several considerations, the attorney general has finally decided that there will be no execution until after the fasting month. The timing before the fasting monty is not right. But he promised the execution will be carried out some time before the end of this year," Abdul said.
However, he could not specify a date. "We don't know the exact date yet. The attorney general is still considering it."
Abdul denied that the stay of the execution was due to requests from the condemned men, their lawyers or pressure from hard-line Muslims. The delay would not affect any legal efforts currently being made by the bombers' lawyers to challenge the execution through the Constitutional Court.
The team of Muslim lawyers is requesting the court to review an article an death row inmate is to be exeuciting by a firing squad, claiming that it is unconstitutional because it constitutes a torture. They demanded their clients be beheaded, although it is not stipulated in the Constitution.
"The convicts will be shot, but beheaded as they have requested," Abdul said.
According to him, the AGO had already completed all formal and legal procedures for the execution.
The three proven terrorists were sentenced to death in 2003 for involvement in the 2002 bombings in Kuta, Bali, that killed 202 people, including 88 Australian tourists.
Commenting on the postponement, the Bali Provincial Prosecutors' Office chief, Dewa Putu Alit Adnyana, said the execution team, comprising prosecutors and a police firing squad, was now still on alert even though the execution had been postponed.
"The postponement will not affect our plan as we are ready at any time," he said.
Bali Police chief Insp. Gen. Teuku Ashikin Husein expected the Balinese to respond to the postponement calmly and not be provoked by irresponsible parties who wanted to disrupt the serenity of the tourist island.
"There is no need to be overacting about this delay as it has been guaranteed that the three be executed this year. I want everyone to stay calm and just wait," he said.
Many Balinese and foreigners were expecting the bombers to be executed immediately to help restore Indonesia's consistent law enforcement image.
"Foreigners will see that the execution as a serious sign that the government is sincere in its efforts to eradicate terrorism and this will in turn give them confidence to return to the tourist island," said Wayan Tantra, who has a small-scale motorcycle rental in Legian.
Tantra, whose business had nearly gone bankrupt after the 2002 Bali bombings, said there many foreign tourists thought twice before he or she decided to visit the island as they did not see any serious evidence that the government would execute the bombers.
In response to the postponement of execution, Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Bill Farmer said that his government respected the decision of the Attorney General's Office to delay the execution..
Farmer said the decision was made under the full authority of the Law in Indonesia. "We accept and respect that," he said as quoted by Kompas.com on Thursday.
Farmer also expressed his deepest sympathy to the 2002 Bali bombing victims and their families.
Three death row inmates, Bali bombers Amrozi, Ali Ghufron and Imam Samudra still have a chance to concentrate on their ritual activity like fasting and taraweh (non-obligatory evening prayers during fasting month) this year, before facing the firing squad.
The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has postponed their execution until after the fasting month, while two of them have expressed readiness for their execution, Assistant Attorney General for General Crimes Abdul Hakim said here over the week-end.
In Islam, during the fasting month Muslims must refrain from eating and drinking between dawn and dusk for 29 or 30 days. Wars and executions must be stopped or postponed in this month. Under Islamic teachings such acts purifiy Muslims of all their sins.
"The execution has to be postponed to avoid excess, enabling them to experience their last Ramadhan," he said.
Earlier, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji had set time before the fasting montyh for the execution.
Abdul denied the decision was the result pressure from certain parties.
According to him, the decision to postpone the execution was based on humanity considerations and that an execution is against the spirit of the holy month.
The AGO wants to allow the death-row inmates to carry out their last religious activities during the fasting month, he said.
"Following several considerations, the attorney general has finally decided that there will be no execution until after the fasting month. The timing before the fasting monty is not right. But he promised the execution will be carried out some time before the end of this year," Abdul said.
However, he could not specify a date. "We don't know the exact date yet. The attorney general is still considering it."
Abdul denied that the stay of the execution was due to requests from the condemned men, their lawyers or pressure from hard-line Muslims. The delay would not affect any legal efforts currently being made by the bombers' lawyers to challenge the execution through the Constitutional Court.
The team of Muslim lawyers is requesting the court to review an article an death row inmate is to be exeuciting by a firing squad, claiming that it is unconstitutional because it constitutes a torture. They demanded their clients be beheaded, although it is not stipulated in the Constitution.
"The convicts will be shot, but beheaded as they have requested," Abdul said.
According to him, the AGO had already completed all formal and legal procedures for the execution.
The three proven terrorists were sentenced to death in 2003 for involvement in the 2002 bombings in Kuta, Bali, that killed 202 people, including 88 Australian tourists.
Commenting on the postponement, the Bali Provincial Prosecutors' Office chief, Dewa Putu Alit Adnyana, said the execution team, comprising prosecutors and a police firing squad, was now still on alert even though the execution had been postponed.
"The postponement will not affect our plan as we are ready at any time," he said.
Bali Police chief Insp. Gen. Teuku Ashikin Husein expected the Balinese to respond to the postponement calmly and not be provoked by irresponsible parties who wanted to disrupt the serenity of the tourist island.
"There is no need to be overacting about this delay as it has been guaranteed that the three be executed this year. I want everyone to stay calm and just wait," he said.
Many Balinese and foreigners were expecting the bombers to be executed immediately to help restore Indonesia's consistent law enforcement image.
"Foreigners will see that the execution as a serious sign that the government is sincere in its efforts to eradicate terrorism and this will in turn give them confidence to return to the tourist island," said Wayan Tantra, who has a small-scale motorcycle rental in Legian.
Tantra, whose business had nearly gone bankrupt after the 2002 Bali bombings, said there many foreign tourists thought twice before he or she decided to visit the island as they did not see any serious evidence that the government would execute the bombers.
In response to the postponement of execution, Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Bill Farmer said that his government respected the decision of the Attorney General's Office to delay the execution..
Farmer said the decision was made under the full authority of the Law in Indonesia. "We accept and respect that," he said as quoted by Kompas.com on Thursday.
Farmer also expressed his deepest sympathy to the 2002 Bali bombing victims and their families.
