Bali bomber's appeal rejected

Indonesia’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by a militant sentenced to death for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings, a court official said today.

Lawyers for Amrozi bin Nurhasyim said they had not yet been informed of the result, but added they would file a judicial review of the case with the Supreme Court – a process that could take months or years.

Pri Pambudi Teguh, a spokesman for the Supreme Court, said a three-judge panel threw out Amrozi’s appeal yesterday.

“The accused’s objections were not backed by the judicial facts,” he said, reading from a copy of the verdict.

Amrozi was the first of 29 militants convicted over the attack to appeal to the Supreme Court. The Bali Higher Court had turned down an earlier request to have his sentence quashed.

The bombings on October 12, 2002 ripped through a nightclub district on the tourist island, killing 202 people, mostly foreigners.

Two other militants sentenced to death for planning and carrying the attacks have also filed appeals at the Supreme Court.

Twenty six others have been sentenced to between three years to life in connection with the attack, which has been blamed on the al-Qaida linked Jemaah Islamiyah terror group.

Appeals at the Supreme Court are normally heard by a panel of three judges sitting behind closed doors. Verdicts are rarely announced publicly, and often leak out to the media before lawyers are informed.