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2008/27: Should the Bali Bombers have been executed?
Introduction to the media issue
Video clips at right:
Upper clip: A Reuters news report on the reaction of the Bali bombers to news of their imminent execution by firing squad.
Lower clip: an American Associated Press news report on the deaths of the Bali bombers.
If you cannot see these clips, it will be because YouTube is blocked by your network. To view the clip, access from home or from a public library, or from another network which allows YouTube clips.
What they said...
'The executions are a sign that the [Indonesian] government is letting law enforcers do their job. For whatever is in the minds of those wanting to violate the law, this should act as a deterrent'
Agus Wijoyo, a researcher on security sector reform at the Centre of Strategic and International Studies
'I'll be happy to die a martyr. After me there will be a million Amrozis'
Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, speaking after the death sentence was imposed on him for his part in the 2002 Bali bombings
The issue at a glance
Early on the morning of Sunday November 9, 2008, Indonesia executed three Muslim militants convicted for their roles in the 2002 bombings in Bali that killed 202 people, mostly foreign nationals.
Imam Samudra, 38 and brothers Amrozi, 46, and Ali Ghufron (alias Mukhlas) 48, were executed simultaneously by firing squads shortly after midnight. The three men had been on death row since 2003, when a Bali court sentenced them to death for their roles in the bombing of nightclubs in the Bali tourist district of Kuta.
The deaths of the three men met with a mixed response. Human rights groups such as Amnesty International regretted another instance of capital punishment. The response of the Australian Government was subdued (perhaps because of its official opposition to capital punishment). While survivors of the bombings and the relatives and friends of victims varied greatly in their responses. Some clearly welcomed the executions; others were distressed by them.
The question of what impact, if any, these deaths will have on terrorist activity in Indonesia can only be answered in time.
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