Three Islamic Imam Samudra, 38, and brothers Amrozi Nurhasyim, 47, and Ali Ghufron, 48, were taken before firing squads in a field near their high-security prison on Nusakambangan island just after midnight, Jasman Panjaitan, a spokesman for the attorney general's office, told reporters. The men died instantly, he said, adding that their eyes were left uncovered at their request.
The three men never expressed remorse, saying the blasts were meant to punish the U.S. and its Western allies for alleged atrocities in Afghanistan and elsewhere. They even taunted family members of victims — 88 of whom were Australian — at their trials five years ago.
The executions, which were sensitive for both political and security reasons, ended years of uncertainty about their fate. Repeated postponements have frustrated survivors and relatives of victims, and enabled the bombers to rally supporters from behind bars by calling for revenge attacks in interviews aired on local television stations or published in newspapers and books.
The bombers' bodies were taken by helicopters to Tenggulun and Serang, their hometowns in east and west Java respectively, where thousands of sympathizers and onlookers turned out Sunday for their funeral processions. Dozens of radicals scuffled briefly with police in Tenggulun, home of the two brothers, Nurhasyim and Ghufron, but there were no serious disturbances.
Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, led the prayers for the brothers, one of their final requests. Former
Though the three Bali bombers said they were happy to die as martyrs, their lawyers fought for years to stop their executions, arguing they were convicted retroactively on anti-terrorism laws. They also opposed death by firing squad, saying their clients preferred beheadings because they were more "humane."