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| Southeast Asia | |
| Bali bombers' executions likely to go ahead | |
| 2004-07-26 | |
| Indonesia is likely to proceed with the executions of three men convicted for the Bali bombings in 2002 and continue holding 30 others serving lesser sentences despite a ruling that implied their convictions under a new terrorism law were unconstitutional. Jimly Asshiddiqie, the chief justice of Indonesia's new constitutional court, held a rare briefing for foreign journalists on Monday to make it clear the ruling would not affect the cases of the Bali bombers. The constitutional court on Friday threw out a law that had allowed an anti-terrorism statute introduced after the bombings in 2002 - in which 202 people were killed - to be applied retroactively so it could be applied to the bombers. But the chief justice said Friday's ruling could itself not be applied retroactively. He said that meant cases still awaiting appeals might be affected, but the cases of those individuals whose avenues of appeal had been exhausted would not. All the cases "decided when the law was valid are still valid", he said.
Of the 33 people convicted for the Bali bombings, 28 have already had their routes of appeal exhausted. A senior judicial official argued that in special cases, judges would still be able to allow the use of the new terrorism laws on crimes committed before its introduction, as long as standard criminal laws were also used. That could affect future prosecutions including that of Abu Bakar Bashir, the detained radical cleric accused of leading Jemaah Islamiah, the al-Qaeda-linked group blamed for the Bali bombings. Police have said they plan to charge him under the terrorism laws. A lawyer for the Bali suspects, Wirawan Adnan, said the question of whether the court's decision applies to individual cases may have to be decided by the country's Supreme Court. But he also said chances of successfully challenging convictions now appeared "slim." | |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |