Indonesia delays executions of Bali bombers

JAKARTA, Aug 21 (Reuters) Indonesia has put off the executions of three men sentenced to death for the 2002 Bali blasts this week, the attorney-general's office said today, citing a judicial review planned by defence lawyers.

Lawyers have argued a plan to execute Muslim militants Imam Samudra, Amrozi and Ali Gufron alias Mukhlas was premature because their legal avenues had not been exhausted although courts at various levels had dismissed their appeals.

''That was only a plan. It certainly has been postponed. One of the reasons is that the lawyers will request a judicial review,'' said I Wayan Pasek Suartha, spokesman of the attorney-general's office.

Under Indonesian law, a convict may challenge a verdict upheld by the Supreme Court through another appeal called a judicial review which requires strong new evidence.

Last month, a Bali prosecutor said executions of the three men might be carried out this week. Lawyers quickly protested that announcement and said they would seek a Supreme Court judicial review for their clients.

The bombings in Bali nightclubs killed 202 people.

Amrozi, dubbed the ''smiling bomber'' for his chilling grin and expressions of delight at the carnage in which most of the victims were foreign tourists, had said during his trial he welcomed the death penalty.

The bombings in Bali have been blamed on the Southeast Asian Islamic militant group, Jemaah Islamiah, which authorities say has links to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network.

Executions in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, are normally carried out by a police firing squad, with the exact location and time kept secret.

Earlier this month, Indonesia also delayed the execution of three Christian militants convicted of killing Muslims in 2000 during a sectarian clash on eastern Sulawesi island.

Fabianus Tibo, Marianus Riwu and Dominggus da Silva were to face a firing squad on August 12 but a few hours before that Indonesia's police chief said the executions would only take place after the country's Independence Day commemoration on August 17.

Suartha said no new date had been set.

''The local authorities are still discussing that. I have not received any report on it,'' the Jakarta-based official said.

The Vatican had called on Indonesia to stop the execution of the three Catholic men who were found guilty of leading a mob that killed scores of Muslims in a Central Sulawesi boarding school.

REUTERS LL BS1249