‘I win,’ says a defiant Imam, who says he does not fear the firing squad (AP)
He wins — a mindset that is deeply informed by Islamic texts, which will continue to breed jihadists. From AFP, with thanks to Nicolei:
SYDNEY – Bali bombing mastermind Imam Samudra says he is not afraid of his impending execution and is looking forward to paradise.
Sentenced to death for his role in the nightclub attack in October 2002 by the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah terror network that killed 202 people, he said he does not fear facing a firing squad.
‘It’s the key to paradise, everything will be very, very nice,’ he told Sydney radio station 2UE from his prison cell in remarks broadcast yesterday.
He believed paradise held the promise of 72 virgins for single men, but only 23 if a man had been married on earth, as he has.
‘We kill to get peace,’ said Samudra, adding that his message to the United States and Australia – which lost 88 citizens in the Bali bombing – was ‘I win.’
He said he had widespread support across the Muslim world for his actions.
‘More than one billion Imam Samudras around the world, who will attack Australia…who will kill John Howard, Bush, Colin Powell, Tony Blair…are ready with their souls, their bombs, their guns,’ he added.
An appeal by Samudra against his death sentence was rejected by Indonesia’s High Court last year.
His lawyers have said he will appeal to the Supreme Court because he believes he should have been tried under Islamic law.
At Samudra’s trial, it was heard that he attended planning meetings, selected the blast targets in Bali and assigned tasks to the bombers as part of a jihad or holy war against the United States and its allies.
When he was convicted last September, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer described him as ‘one of the villains of the Bali bombing’.
He said Australia would depart from its usual policy of protesting against the death penalty and would not take issue with the Indonesian court’s sentence.