Indonesian clerics to visit Bali bombers before executions
Written by Writer on Saturday, November 8th, 2008
Indonesian clerics to visit Bali bombers before executions
CILACAP, Indonesia — Senior Indonesian Islamic clerics said Wednesday they have been asked to visit the Bali bombers on death row, in another sign they will be executed soon.
“We have received a letter from the Cilacap prosecutor’s office to send nine clerics to the prison to provide counsel for the trio,” said Sahlan Natsir, a member of the local Islamic clerical body near the prison.
The letter did not specify when the clerics would be asked to visit the Islamic militants — Imam Samudra, 38, Amrozi, 47, and his brother Mukhlas, 48 — who have been in isolation awaiting execution since Friday.
Prosecutors have said the executions will be carried out by firing squad in “early November.”
The bombings of packed night spots on the resort island of Bali in 2002 killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists including 88 Australians, as well as 38 Indonesians.
Security has been tightened across the mainly Muslim archipelago amid fears of revenge attacks from Islamist extremists and the Jemaah Islamiyah regional militant network that allegedly instigated the Bali carnage.
Additional security has been given to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono after a threat to his life in the form of a letter purportedly penned by the bombers and posted on an Islamist website.
The letter dated August urges Islamist militants to “war against and kill” Yudhoyono, who is universally known by the initials SBY, and other senior officials in retaliation for the executions.
The United States and Australian embassies were the target of anonymous bomb threats sent to police by text message on Tuesday. Searches of the heavily guarded embassy compounds failed to find any bombs.
Islamic extremists descended for a second day on the village of two of the bombers, brothers Amrozi and Mukhlas, shouting “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) in defiance of the impending execution.
Around 60 white-clad radicals from the district around Tenggulun village in East Java arrived by motorcycle in the early afternoon and unfurled banners hailing the bombers as “holy warriors.”
“One dies, one thousand grow; three die, one million grow,” one banner read.
“Destroy the enemies of Islam, destroy SBY,” cleric Muhammad Muchsin, from radical group the Lamongan Muslim Forum, yelled in front of chanting supporters.
Thursday, November 6, 2008 10:13 am TWN, AFP
