Lawyers consider appealing Bali bomber's death sentence

Defence lawyers were today considering an appeal against the death sentence for the Islamic militant convicted in last year’s deadly Bali terrorist attacks, even though their client has repeatedly said he wants to become a martyr.

They have seven days to file an appeal.

Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, who has been dubbed the “smiling bomber”, was found guilty yesterday and sentenced to execution by a firing squad.

“We do not believe that he deserves the death penalty,” said lawyer Wirawan Adnan, adding that the 41-year-old mechanic was not the mastermind of the October 12 nightclub attacks that killed 202 people, including 26 Britons.

Adnan said Amorzi, who confessed to buying a van and explosives used in the car bomb attack, deserved an appeal because he had been “mistreated and has not been given a fair trial”.

Amrozi was the first defendant convicted in the Bali attacks. Another 34 men, including two of his brothers, are facing separate trials.

They are all accused of being members of Jemaah Islamiyah – a Southeast Asian terror group linked to Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida.

Amrozi smiled broadly and thrust out both hands in a thumbs-up sign when an Indonesian court handed down the verdict and announced that he would die for his crime.

Survivors of the blasts and relatives of victims burst into tears, cheered and hugged each other in the courtroom. Amrozi appeared undaunted and flashed a grin at the largely Australian crowd, who jeered and shouted at him in anger. Eighty-eight Australians died in the bombings.

The Bali attack was the deadliest terrorist strike since the September 11 attacks in the US, and they underscored that Southeast Asia had become a hub for terrorist activity.

The guilty verdict and sentence against Amrozi and other trials in the Bali case have raised fears of revenge attacks by militants.

On Tuesday, a car bomb exploded at the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, killing at least 10 people and wounding 150. Investigators in that attack suspect the same group blamed for the Bali bombings: Jemaah Islamiyah.

Although Indonesian law allows for death sentences to be handed down for crimes such as murder and terrorism, in practice executions are rare.

However, Indonesia is under intense pressure to take tough action against terrorism.