ABC News Online

Bali bombers in bid to avoid firing squad

By Jakarta correspondent Geoff Thompson and wires

Posted 3 hours 46 minutes ago

The Bali bombers have enlisted the help of former East Timor militia leader Eurico Guterres in a Constitutional Court bid to save them from the firing squad.

Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, Ali Ghufron (Mukhlas) and Imam Samudra are to be executed by the firing squad for their role in the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

The three men would prefer an Islamic method of execution by beheading.

Indonesian Justice Minister Andi Matilatta appeared before the country's Constitutional Court today to challenge the argument of the Bali bombers' lawyers that death by firing squad is torture.

He argued that being shot is painful and that is why the punishment is a deterrent, but that does not mean it is torture.

A lawyer for the Bali bombers, Wirowan Adnan, disagreed and announced that next week he will be calling the former East Timorese militia leader Eurico Guterres as a witness.

Calling Guterres "a soldier in the fight for integration", he said the militia leader witnessed someone being shot in the heart in 1999.

"He can testify about the pain and the suffering before he [the victim] finally bled to death," Mr Adnan said.

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