Amrozi lawyers consider appeal

Defence lawyers were yesterday considering an appeal against the death sentence for the Islamic militant convicted over last year's deadly Bali terror attacks, even though their client has repeatedly said he wants to become a martyr. They have seven days to file an appeal.

Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, dubbed the smiling bomber, was sentenced on Thursday to execution by firing squad.

"We do not believe that he deserves the death penalty," said attorney Wirawan Adnan, adding that the 41-year-old mechanic was not the mastermind of the October 12 nightclub attacks that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.

Amrozi has yet to give permission to his lawyers to appeal. If an appeal proceeds, analysts believe the Jakarta Government would act out of self-interest to push for the death penalty because it sees Islamic terrorism as a threat to itself.

Amrozi was the first defendant convicted in the Bali attacks. Another 34 men, including two of his brothers, face separate trials.

Australia's Prime Minister, John Howard, said Australians were reacting in a "heartfelt" way to the death sentence.

Howard said the Australian public was not "consumed by revenge", and he rejected suggestions that the Bali bombing survivors and the families of victims were "dancing in the streets".

"I don't feel a sense of jubilation about this, and I don't think people do," Howard told radio station 3AW.

"But if you've lost somebody, the emotional release of at least thinking that there is some sense of justice is being served."

An Australian woman who survived the bombings said yesterday Amrozi would suffer more if he spent the rest of his life in jail instead of being executed. "He should suffer the way I have to suffer every day, and the way families that lost people have to suffer every day," Nicole McLean told the Nine Network. "He's getting a happy ending."





Susanna Miller, of a group which represents 22 of the families of British victims, said relatives would lobby the Indonesian courts through the Foreign Office for life sentences.

Miller, 35, whose brother Daniel was killed, said: "'Martyrdom is what he wants and it is what he will attain. It does no service to those killed to make 30 martyrs out of Islamic terrorists."

She said the families wanted to see remorse from Amrozi.

Indonesian police said yesterday that two "terrorist members" already under arrest in Indonesia recruited the suicide bomber who attacked the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta.

Erwin Mappaseng, head of the police criminal investigation division, said Asmar Latin Sani, 28, " was known by two terrorist members ... he was certainly recruited by them".

He did not say if they were members of the Jemaah Islamiah network.

- AGENCIES

Herald Feature: Bali bomb blast