Radio Australia News

Australian gov't welcomes death penalty for Bali bomber

The Australian government says it hopes a guilty verdict against convicted Bali bomber, Amrozi, delivers a sense of justice to the bombing victims' families.

The death sentence has also been welcomed as a decisive move in the ongoing effort to stop terrorism.

The Prime Minister John Howard says he hopes the relatives of the 88 Australians killed in the blasts receive some comfort from the 1st verdict against the accused Bali bombers.The Foreign Affairs minister Alexander Downer says the death penalty is very good, in terms of sending a strong mesage to terrorists. The government says it won't try to have the death sentence overturned...a move backed by the Opposition leader Simon Crean.

Australia torn over death penalty for Bali bomber

Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Friday stood by his decision to back the execution of Bali bomber Amrozi despite his country's long-held opposition to capital punishment.

"The law of Indonesia requires that he be executed, then I regard that as appropriate," Howard told Australian radio.

Howard's decision not to protest at the sentencing of the so-called "smiling assassin" Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, has left Australians divided over the right way to punish those responsible for the bombs that killed 202 people including 88 Australians in Bali last October.

Australia carried out its last execution in 1967 and abolished the death penalty nationwide in 1985. It has since been a fierce opponent of capital punishment, strongly lobbying nations which have sentenced Australians to death in the past.

Last month the government pressured Washington to agree not to seek the death penalty against Australian David Hicks, who is being held in Guantanamo Bay after being arrested in Afghanistan where he trained with al Qaeda.

But Howard said that, in the Amrozi case, he would not be asking Indonesia to refrain from executing the bomber although he ruled out Australia ever reintroducing the death penalty.

"I also believe that for me to (protest) would offend many Australians who lost people, who legitimately feel, as decent Australians, that the death penalty is appropriate," he said.

The Bali bombs, which ripped through 2 nightclubs packed with foreign tourists, sparked an unprecedented wave of anger and cries for revenge from Australians and destroyed a sense of security based largely on geographical isolation.

Howard, whose conservative government enjoys strong public support after seven years in power, is well aware of the Australian sensitivities over Bali, as is opposition Labor leader Simon Crean who has also backed the death penalty.

Even the Australian Coalition against the Death Penalty admitted it would have been a political blunder for Howard to do anything but stand by the decision to execute Amrozi.

"If the prime minister had intervened to stop this it would have caused more grief for the loved ones of the victims," coalition president Dorina Lisson told Reuters.

"He also wants to maintain good relations with Indonesia and so can't really interfere in the justice system there but we think he could have made a strong (moral) stance," Lisson said.

While the decision to execute Amrozi prompted some of the victims' families to pop champagne corks, others said it was wrong to grant any exceptions to Australia's stance against the death penalty.

"I do not believe the death penalty is appropriate at any time," Adelaide magistrate Brian Deegan, whose son Josh died in Bali, told Reuters. "I believe Josh would not want this to occur in his name and I certainly don't want it to occur in mine."

Australian media unanimously hailed Amrozi's guilty verdict as justice, but their reaction to the death sentence was mixed.

Sydney's Daily Telegraph tabloid ran a front-page headline "Laughing All The Way To Hell" and said Amrozi was "a vile perversion...not fit to even call himself a man".

But the Sydney Morning Herald took a more moderate line, saying that a martyr's death "may simply help rally more zealots to his bloody cause".

The leader of the small, but influential, Australian Democrats party also opposed granting Amrozi a martyr's death.

"When you're fighting barbarism and terrorism I think you need to be careful not to descend to barbaric acts yourself," Democrat leader Andrew Bartlett told reporters.

"In my view the death penalty is a barbaric act that we need to oppose in all circumstances," he said.

Amrozi's defence lawyers have 7 days to file an appeal against the death sentence.

AAP

Leaders should have opposed death penalty: Kerr

Opposition Leader Simon Crean and Prime Minister John Howard should have spoken out against a death sentence given to Bali bomber Amrozi, Labor backbencher Duncan Kerr said today.

An Indonesian court yesterday sentenced Amrozi to die for his part in last October's Bali bombings which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Mr Howard has said the government would not lobby the Indonesian government to stop Amrozi's death sentence being executed.

Mr Crean said he did not agree with capital punishment, but he would not seek to interfere with the court's decision.

Mr Kerr said Mr Crean and Mr Howard's opinions were understandable, but wrong.

"Principled opposition to the death penalty cannot be switched off and on," Mr Kerr said in a statement.

"Like many Australians I am torn apart by these events but nothing will remake the lives lost or repair the hurts suffered."

Mr Kerr said he agreed with Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty that executing terrorists encouraged their followers.

"Mr Keelty reasons that it would be better to have the bombers locked up as common criminals for the term of their natural life than to give the platform they want to incite others to follow in their footstep," Mr Kerr said.

"I agree."

Mr Kerr said if Australian governments did not consistently speak out against the death penalty, they could lose their credibility when lobbying on behalf of Australians who were sentenced to death overseas.

"Our leaders statements not opposing the use of the death penalty may well be turned against us in tragic circumstances," Mr Kerr said.

He deserves everything he gets, says Latham

But Labor frontbencher Mark Latham said Amrozi deserved no sympathy and should face the full weight of Indonesian law.

"Someone who's done this evil act deserves to face the full weight of the law in the jurisdiction where the act was committed and that is what's going to happen," he told reporters.

"I'm not a religious person but if this evil little person thinks that after he's put to the death sentence he's going to be off in some paradise in the sky I think he's .... even sillier than he looks."

Execution 'barbaric' says Bartlett

Democrat leader Andrew Bartlett today warned that executing Amrozi would be barbaric as opinion divided over whether the Bali bomber should be martyred.

Many of the survivors and families of those killed in the blasts at Kuta Beach's Paddy's Bar and Sari Club have welcomed the penalty, as has the United States.

But some families of Australian victims and a group of British Bali bombing victims have opposed execution.

"When you're fighting barbarism and terrorism I think you need to be careful not to descend to barbaric acts yourself," Senator Bartlett told ABC radio.

"In my view the death penalty is a barbaric act that we need to oppose in all circumstances."

Unity MP condemns leaders

NSW Unity MP Peter Wong also condemned Mr Howard and Mr Crean, saying their were cynical, vote-buying responses which diminished all Australians.

"Judicial killing as a way of resolving crime and terrorism is wrong," he said.

"There is no glory in death by anger or by the state; it always diminishes us as human beings.

"We must find the nobility of spirit to suffer the effects of terrorism without reaching down to their standards by resorting to supporting the idea of killing."

Dr Wong said Mr Howard's comments demonstrated his keenness in taking Australia backwards by following the United States.

"In the case of Mr Crean, it once again demonstrates a massively ineffectual opposition and a definite lack of leadership."

Debate about death sentence 'distracting': PM

On ABC Radio in Hobart, Mr Howard said public debate between Australia and Indonesia about Amrozi's death sentence would send a distracting signal to the international community.

"My view is a very simple one," Mr Howard said. "This crime was committed in Indonesia by an Indonesian citizen, and the law of Indonesia requires the imposition of the death penalty.

"It would be sending a very distracting signal if the focus of public debate were now to be an exchange of communication between the Australian government and the Indonesian government about the nature of the penalty being imposed on the person ... along with others, responsible for the murder of 88 of our citizens.

"I think the public would scratch its head, and the international community would say: 'What's all this about? I thought they were meant to be working together to fight terrorism.'"

Asked if there was any danger of making Amrozi a martyr, Mr Howard said the risk could be overstated.

"I think that can be overblown, I really do," he said.

Mr Howard said he had expected Amrozi to be handed the death penalty yesterday.

"I don't know if I got to the situation of hoping or not hoping," he said, when asked what he had hoped the penalty would be.

"I just expected, if he were found guilty, he would receive the death penalty."

'Die Amrozi' shouts football club member

As Amrozi was led out of the courtroom after the verdict and the sentence was handed down late yesterday, he smiled broadly at Australian survivors, some of whom shouted back angrily.

Australian Brad Phillips, 31, of Perth's Kingsley football club, screamed out "die Amrozi".

"It's sensational, it's a weight off my shoulders," he told reporters when asked in Denpasar about the verdict and sentence.

In Australia, there was a mixture of relief and despair that Amrozi would be executed.

Father hates idea of death sentence

One of the strongest reactions against the death penalty came from Adelaide magistrate Brian Deegan, whose son Josh died in the Sari Club blast.

"I don't believe in the death penalty and I would hate to think that somebody's life was going to be taken in my son's name," Mr Deegan said.

The other side of the emotional spectrum was revealed in Kevin Paltridge of Perth, another father who lost a son.

"He (Amrozi) sentenced my son and 6 of his friends to death, so it is only right that he has been sentenced to death," Mr Paltridge said.

In the middle were people such as Jake Ryan, who lost his foot in the blast.

"I would have preferred for him to rot in jail," said Ryan, 22, whose also lost 5 mates to the bombs.

"But if they want to shoot him, that's fine."

Mr Howard said Australia would not make any approach to Indonesia to overturn the decision to impose the death penalty.

"I hope this verdict provides some sense of comfort for those who lost their loved ones in this tragedy, and that they feel in some way justice has been done," he told reporters.

"So far as the imposition of the death penalty is concerned, it will not be the intention of the Australian government to make any representations to the government of Indonesia that that penalty not be carried out."

I won't interfere: Crean

Mr Crean said he would have preferred a long jail sentence - but the Indonesian court's verdict should be respected.

"I don't agree with capital punishment, but the fact is the crime was committed on Indonesian soil, and the Indonesian courts have handed down the death penalty. I won't be seeking to interfere in that decision," Mr Crean said.

US welcomes sentence

The United States also welcomed the death sentence slapped on Amrozi.

"We commend the government of Indonesia for the professional manner in which it conducted this trial. The court's decision is a clear sign that Indonesia is serious about combatting terrorism," Tara Rigler, a State Department spokeswoman, said today.

Indonesian Islamic leaders said they had no reason to object to Amrozi's death sentence.

Din Syamsuddin, secretary general of the Indonesian Ulamas' Council (MUI), Indonesia's highest authority on Islamic matters, said "there is no reason for us to object" to the sentence, as long as the court was a just one.

"From the Islamic legal perspective....anybody who kills another person without reason deserves to be sanctioned with the death penalty, if the court is based on justice," Syamsuddin said.

Senator Bartlett said the execution of Amrozi would be a barbaric act.

Relatives of the 26 Britons killed want Amrozi's sentence commuted to life imprisonment to avoid turning him into a martyr.

The UK Bali Bombing Victims' Group said it welcomed his conviction, saying the attacks had ended 202 lives and ruined many more.

"However, we are devastated he has been given a death sentence," the relatives said in a statement.

"We don't want him to become a martyr - it is difficult to see how this sentence will achieve anything other than this."

Amrozi's defence team said it would appeal the sentence, even though Amrozi did not want to do so.

Amrozi has said that he wants to die a martyr.

Other key suspects, including 2 of his brothers, will also face a verdict in coming weeks.