Bali bomber, on death row, loses final appeal

JAKARTA, Sep 7 (Reuters) Indonesia's Supreme Court has thrown out a final appeal by one of three people on death row for the 2002 bombings on the resort island of Bali, a court official said today.

Lawyers for Muslim militant Amrozi had sought a review of his case, arguing that the Constitutional Court had in 2004 ruled that anti-terrorism laws could not be applied retrospectively.

The decision to reject Amrozi's appeal was made on Aug 30, Supreme Court judge Djoko Sarwoko said.

''It did not meet the requirements of the law,'' he told Reuters, saying that it was now up to the attorney general's office to decide the date of his execution.

Verdicts for the two other death-row convicts, Imam Samudra and Mukhlas, also known as Ali Gufron, were still pending, he said.

The three men were tried using anti-terrorism laws which were written in the wake of the Octember. 12, 2002 bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.

Amrozi, dubbed the ''smiling bomber'' for his chilling grin and expressions of delight at the carnage caused by the blasts, said during his trial he welcomed the death penalty.

Executions in Indonesia are conducted by a firing squad.

Indonesia last year put off a plan to execute the three men because lawyers said legal avenues had not been exhausted, although courts at various levels had dismissed their appeals.

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.

The bombings in Bali have been blamed on the Southeast Asian Islamic militant group Jemaah Islamiah.

REUTERS SLD PM1436