Bali bombers could be executed next week

AAP - Three key Islamic militants on death row over the 2002 Bali bombings could be executed as early as next week.

The Indonesian government on Monday took the unusual step of announcing that an
announcement about the executions will be made on Friday, October 24.
Indonesia typically announces executions after they have been carried out.
A spokesman for Indonesia's Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said there were "no
obstacles" to prevent the executions from proceeding.
The Attorney General's office would give details of the executions on October 24,
spokesman Jasman Pandjaitan said.
"Basically, there's no obstacles," he told reporters in Jakarta. "Even so, there are
some preparations needed.
" ... we have to coordinate with the firing squad, the executor and other related
parties like the prison and its officers."
Indonesia does not normally make public the timing and locations of executions,
raising speculation that the statement on Friday next week could be to announce the
bombers have been put to death.
Jasman refused to answer questions about whether the announcement would be made
after the executions were carried out, Indonesian news agency Antara reported.
The Attorney General's office on Friday confirmed the executions would be carried
out this year.
It followed comments by the three bombers that they did not believe they would be
executed any time soon.
An AAP stringer in Cilacap, Central Java, near the Nusakambangan Island prison where
the three men are held, said there had been no unusual activity on the island.
The bombers' were due to be visited by their families this Thursday.
Monday's comments came a day after the sixth anniversary of the 2002 Bali bombings,
which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
Three Islamic militants - Amrozi, his brother Mukhlas and Imam Samudra - sentenced
to die over the attacks, have never expressed any remorse for their roles and claim
they will die as martyrs.
Australian Natalie Grezl Juniardi, who lost her Balinese husband John in the blasts,
on Sunday urged the government to carry out the executions as soon as possible.
"It was six years ago and we're still waiting," for the bombers to be executed, she
told AAP after attending a memorial service in Bali.
"I just feel that they (the government) need to do it as soon as possible.
"They keep talking about it, talking about it and talking about it and nothing is
being done. So, how is anyone going to believe what they say if they don't go ahead
with it?" Indonesia temporarily halted its plans to execute the three men out of
respect for the holy Islamic fasting month in September.
The bombers have exhausted all legal options, although their lawyers have launched a
side challenge in Indonesia's Constitutional Court arguing that execution by firing
squad amounts to torture.