04 September 2008

Bali bombers execution postponed again

JAKARTA -Indonesia's Attorney General's Office (AGO) has officially postponed the executions of three convicted Bali bombers, Amrozi, Ali Ghufron and Imam Samudra, until after Ramadan.

The Jakarta Post reports that assistant attorney general for general crimes Abdul Hakim said the decision was made to allow the convicts to experience what would be their last Ramadan.

According to Islam, during the holy month Muslims must not eat or drink between dawn and dusk for 29 or 30 days.

Many Islamic teachings believe the act purifies Muslims of all their sins.

"It has been postponed so as to avoid excesses," Hakim said.

The execution, he said, would be carried out after Ramadan ends on September 30.

Earlier, Attorney General Hendarman Supandji set a deadline for the executions to be carried out before the start of Ramadan on Sept. 1.

Abdul denied the decision was a result of pressure from certain parties and it came straight from the attorney general.

The three terrorists, now detained at a maximum security prison on Nusa Kambangan Island in Central Java, were sentenced to death in 2002 after being found guilty of masterminding the bombings in Kuta, Bali, year that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.