A man on trial for his alleged role in a number of suicide bombings in Bali last year has accused the security services of torturing him.
Mohammad Cholily said he was beaten and suffered inhumane treatment in order to extract a confession.
He had previously admitted involvement in the attacks which killed 20 people, but later retracted his statement.
He did confess, however, to learning how to make bombs from one of the alleged masterminds behind the attacks.
According to his lawyer, Mr Cholily admitted to crimes he did not commit after being tortured for a week.
In a letter read out by his lawyer to the court in Denpasar, Bali, he said he received "slaps in the face, blows in the stomach, kicks in the genitals and was stripped naked and threatened with a gun in his mouth".
However, the letter did not specify where or when the alleged torture took place.
Militant links

Mr Cholily is one of four men accused of involvement in the plot to bomb three restaurants on the Indonesian island of Bali in October last year.
The trials of the men, who are said to be members of the al-Qaeda-linked regional terror group, Jemaah Islamiah, are being held separately.
The suspects are accused variously of transporting explosives and providing support to the operation's alleged leader, Noordin Mohammad Top, a Malaysian-born fugitive at the head of Indonesia's most wanted list.
The men are being tried under Indonesia's anti-terror laws, which in theory carry a maximum penalty of death.
Further claims
A militant who was convicted of the 2002 Bali bombings , in which more than 200 people died, has also made claims of torture.
Amrozi said he and two others were tortured to help convict radical cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir.
He made the remarks last month during an appeal hearing for the cleric, who was sentenced to 30 months in jail for conspiracy over the 2002 bombings.
Police have denied mistreating any of the 30 men convicted in the 2002 attacks . They have also denied the claims by Mohammad Cholily.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4985564.stm

Bali bombers plan last execution appeal

Three militants on death row over the 2002 Bali bombings plan to file final appeals as Indonesian authorities finalise arrangements for their deaths by firing squads.

Prosecutors have been speeding up efforts to execute the three men, who have each admitted to helping plan and carry out the 2002 blasts, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

They and their families have said they will not seek clemency from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

On Tuesday, lawyer Wirawan Adnan said he planned to file a final appeal known as a judicial review to the Supreme Court later this month.

"The prosecutors can execute them whenever they want, but it will be against the law since the three still have the right to appeal," he said.

Earlier Attorney-General Abdul Rahman Saleh said the trio would be executed inside their island jail and not on Bali, the scene of their crime.

"Permission from the justice and human rights minister is already there, so the execution will not be held in Bali ... It will be held in Nusakambangan," Abdul Rahman Saleh told the state-run Antara News agency.

Imam Samudra, 36, Amrozi, 43, and Ali Ghufron, 46, alias Mukhlas, were moved from their Bali jail last October to Nusakambangan penal island, just off the southern coast of Central Java, with authorities citing security reasons.

The move followed protests from Balinese people angry over the damage down to the island's reputation as a holiday destination.

Under Indonesian law, convicts condemned to death are usually executed in the same area as they were sentenced.

But the attorney-general's office has argued that the executions, which will take place by firing squad, would be more practically held at Nusakambangan as the men are already in detention there.

Saleh declined to say when the executions would take place.

The three and their respective families have already waived their right to file for presidential clemency.

Indonesia executed two foreign drug traffickers in 2004 and two murderers in 2005, but prior to 2004 had often delayed executions indefinitely.

I Wayan Pasek Suarta, a spokesman for the Indonesian attorney general, said the three convicted Bali bombers had a right to file appeals and to do so would automatically put their executions on hold.

"We will have to wait," Suarta said.

A judicial review requires lawyers present new evidence to the Supreme Court.

Defence lawyer Adnan did not say what evidence he intended to offer.


http://au.news.yahoo.com/060627/2/p/zk8o.html

As right wing as I am, I cannot condone execution by the state.

It is the states duty to protect all citizens, not to kill them, unless killing a citizen is directly required to protect other citizens.

Kill them in the act.

Lock them up for ever if you catch them after the act.

You sound like Bill O'Reilly oh sausaged one.

Not that I watch the loon and in any position to make comparisons of course.

The terrorists will be smiling all the way to the firing squad believing they are to be martyred and receive 30 virgins (hopefully white ones, Amrozi will be thinking) in heaven. Let the dogs rot behind bars.

Bali bombers to appeal execution
Three men convicted over the 2002 Bali bombings are to appeal against their death sentences, a defence lawyer said.
The lawyer, Muhammad Mahendradata, told journalists that the appeal would be filed before the men's scheduled execution on 22 August.

It was not clear how long the appeal could delay their possible execution.

The three men - Amrozi, Ali Gufron and Imam Samudra - were sentenced to death in autumn 2003 for their part in the bombings, which killed 202 people.

Two of the three men - Amrozi and Imam Samudra - said in October 2005 that they would not seek clemency and were reported to have told prosecutors they were "ready to be executed anytime soon".

But Mahendradata said the appeal would argue that the men had been found guilty on the basis of retroactive legislation.

"The criminal code stipulates that if there is any change in the law then the law applied should be beneficial to the defendant," he was quoted as saying by the AP agency.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/5223554.stm

Bali bombers 'request beheading'

Three Indonesian militants facing execution for the 2002 Bali bombings want to be beheaded rather than killed by firing squad, their lawyer has said.
The three - Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra - are expected to include the request in an appeal to the Supreme Court.

Their lawyer, Muhammad Mahendradatta, said beheading was a more humane form of punishment than firing squad.

Their execution was postponed last month to allow for a final appeal.

"Our clients would seek to have a more humane capital punishment. It should be done in accordance with Islamic law, which is by beheading," Muhammad Mahendradatta told the Associated Press news agency.

He said death by firing squad was inhumane because the men would suffer for at least two minutes before dying, which he called "torture".

However Indonesian law insists capital punishment be carried out by a firing squad.

Judicial review

News of their appeal follows the execution of three Christian militants convicted of masterminding a series of attacks on Muslims in Sulawesi, Indonesia.

The three - Fabianus Tibo, Marianus Riwu and Dominggus da Silva - were shot before dawn on Friday morning, police officers said.

Mr Mahendradatta believed the execution could lead to efforts to speed up the punishment against the Bali bombers.

"We are alert because the strategy now is going after Amrozi and company," he told the Reuters news agency.

The 12 October 2002 nightclub bombings, in Bali's Kuta tourist district, killed 202 people, 88 of whom were Australian.

More than 30 people have been jailed for the attacks, which have been blamed on the South East Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiah.

Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra have been found guilty of major roles and have already confessed.

But in August, Indonesia delayed their executions after lawyers complained legal avenues had not been exhausted.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/5370994.stm