Bali bombers launch fresh appeal
Posted: 26 March 2008 1653 hrs

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CILACAP, Indonesia: Three Islamic militants sentenced to death for their role in the 2002 Bali bombings are to lodge a fresh appeal, their lawyer said here on Wednesday.

The three men face death by firing squad after they were found guilty of involvement in the attack, which killed 202 people on the mostly Hindu island.

Achmad Michdan, who heads their legal team, told AFP his clients would file separate demands for their cases to be reviewed.

"The three will now prepare their respective demands for a case review and they will be submitted as soon as possible," Michdan said in this town on the coast of Central Java, separated by a narrow strait from the island jail where three are being held.

It had been thought the three – Amrozi, Ali Ghufron and Imam Samudra – had exhausted all legal avenues after a Bali court said Monday their lawyers had dropped an earlier appeal.

Michdan declined to comment on that. He said his clients were planning the fresh appeal because the Bali court had not allowed them to present their case effectively.

"There has clearly been discrimination against my clients. Because these cases concern the death penalty, everything should be done to allow the convicts to present their cases," Michdan said.

He said the Bali court had refused to allow his clients to appear and declined to hear an expert witness for the defence.

The fresh move is the latest legal twist in the trial of the bombers, who remain defiantly unrepentant over the attacks.

The bombers had earlier demanded a judicial review on the grounds that they were convicted under a terror law that was applied retroactively.

Michdan said the three would handle their own cases, with lawyers providing advice.


- AFP/so