JAKARTA, 9 August 2003 — Indonesian militant Amrozi is to appeal against his death sentence for the Bali bombings, a defense lawyer said yesterday.
“He has signed the letter,” Amrozi’s chief lawyer Wirawan Adnan told AFP, referring to a document authorizing lawyers to appeal against the sentence passed Thursday.
A court in the resort island condemned Amrozi to death for his role in the Oct. 12 terror bombings which killed 202 people. Amrozi bought the chemicals used in the blasts and the van and transported them to Bali. Adnan said the appeal would be filed on Monday. Defense lawyers could not have appealed the sentence without Amrozi’s authorization.
Amrozi, 41, will face a firing squad if his appeal is rejected.
Adnan said earlier yesterday that Amrozi had told him that he would not seek leniency.
Amrozi was the first suspect to face judgment for the bombings, the worst terror attack since Sept. 11, 2001 in the United States.
Local newspapers welcomed the death sentence, with the Jakarta Post describing it as “an event of major significance” in its editorial. “Indeed, both the judgment and the circumstances that led to it can be regarded as setting a new milestone in the country’s history of jurisprudence,” the paper said.
Other newspapers noted Amrozi’s reaction to being given the death penalty. Koran Tempo said the response was a reminder that terrorism cannot be defeated by relying only on heavier penalties and repressive actions. “Why? Amrozi’s thumbs-up drives us to reply that we will never run out of militants ready to become martyrs,” the paper wrote in an editorial.
The paper said rising “social frustration” and exploding unemployment contribute to militancy while Megawati’s government has failed to promote democratic reform necessary for combating terrorism. Koran Tempo warned that the battle against terrorism will be a marathon one that must be conducted with the guarantee of civil rights and free speech.
