The three men sentenced to death over the 2002 Bali bombings will face the firing squad in Indonesia's Central Java province at an unspecified date, a senior prosecutor said. "We have received a letter from the Minister of Justice and Human Rights about where the execution will take place. It will be somewhere in Central Java," prosecutor Abdul Hakim Ritonga told reporters. "No specific time has been determined yet. We are waiting for the appeals process to be concluded by the Supreme Court." The prosecutor said that due to security concerns, the execution would not be carried out on the tourist island of Bali where the three were tried.
Analysts of Indonesia's justice system said the announcement indicated that the executions could be drawing near. Indonesia usually executes its prisoners by firing squad before dawn with no prior announcement. "It seems that the Government is getting ready for their execution," said Taufik Basari, a human rights lawyer from the People's Legal Aid Foundation.
The bombers have not shown any remorse over the attacks, with two saying publicly their executions will bring them martyrdom. All three men are being held in an island prison off the south coast of Java.
Mr Basari said capital punishment would only let the bombers' Islamist supporters hail them as martyrs. "The Government should consider changing their sentence to life, since capital punishment is clearly not having any effect," he said. "They openly said in court that they're not afraid of the death penalty and this is part of their 'jihad', and the Government is playing to what they want."