Multi-generational "misunderstanding" of Islam." Was she "radicalized" on the Internet? "Bali bombers await firing squads as Indonesia stands guard," from Agence France-Presse, November 1:
Three Islamist militants convicted over the Bali nightclub bombings that killed 202 people awaited execution Saturday as Indonesia stood guard against a feared extremist backlash.
A source at the Nusakambangan island prison off southern Java said Amrozi, 47, his brother Mukhlas, 48, and attack strategist Imam Samudra, 38, had been placed in isolation and the execution order had been delivered.
"The letter ordering the execution was submitted last night at 9:00 pm (1400 GMT Friday)," the source said. He did not say whether the letter gave a precise time for the executions.
Stunned residents at Amrozi's and Mukhlas's home village of Tenggulun, East Java, woke Saturday to find an "H" had been painted overnight between the maize fields, where a helicopter from Nusakambangan might land with the bodies.
Local television also reported that checkpoints had been set up around Samudra's home town of Serang, and that a grave had been prepared.
Security forces have been placed on high alert across the country as a precaution against an explosion of Islamist anger at the first executions to be carried out under Indonesia's anti-terror law.
Sensitive areas like foreign embassies, tourist spots, shopping malls and ports were under close guard. On the mainly Hindu resort island of Bali, 3,500 police were on the streets, officials said. [...]
They were convicted and sentenced in 2003 under a new anti-terror law which was applied retroactively, leading anti-death penalty campaigners to question the legality of their executions.
All three have said they are eager to embrace "martyrdom" for their radical jihadist ideology, while launching a series of failed appeals and legal challenges which have delayed their date with the firing squad.
All executions in Indonesia are carried out by firing squad, usually in the dead of night at undisclosed locations.
Defence lawyer Wirawan Adnan said the government was eager to limit coverage of the execution and it likely would not follow the usual practice of giving the families three days' notice.
"I believe it's going to happen unannounced. It's just the way it is because they don't want the public to know and they're going to do it secretly," he said.
Officials have not confirmed a date for the executions other than "early November."
The bombers, members of the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror network, have expressed no remorse for the carnage they unleashed six years ago. [...]
In Tenggulun, the family of Mukhlas and Amrozi -- a former mechanic known as the "smiling assassin" for his childish courtroom antics -- remained defiant.
"If they die because they are standing up for the religion they will be placed in paradise," 52-year-old elder brother Muhammed Chozin told AFP.
Their 70-year-old mother said on Friday her sons were right to "kill infidels."
"I don't cry. I leave it all to God," Tariem said. "I feel that killing infidels isn't a mistake because they don't pray."
Hordes of journalists and camera crews have descended on the sleepy village to wait out the executions.
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Their 70-year-old mother said on Friday her sons were right to "kill infidels."
"I don't cry. I leave it all to God," Tariem said. "I feel that killing infidels isn't a mistake because they don't pray."
I love it how we are the ones who are always blamed for the genocidal mentality.