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Bali bombing cleric attacks western tourists By Nick Squires in Sydney Last Updated: 1:56am GMT 25/03/2008 Western tourists in Indonesia are "maggots, snakes and worms" who should be beaten up, the alleged mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings has told hardline Islamic followers. Abu Bakar Bashir, the cleric who was convicted of conspiracy over the Bali bombings but later cleared and released from prison after 26 months, said the island resort had been overrun by scantily-clad tourists who deserved to be attacked for their immorality. "Worms, snakes, maggots... those are animals that crawl. Take a look at Bali... those infidel...

FOREIGN Affairs Minister Stephen Smith has heightened speculation the Bali bombers will be executed overnight, issuing a special terror warning to school leavers. All signs are pointing to the execution early Australian time tomorrow of Islamic militants Amrozi, his brother Mukhlas and Imam Samudra. "The Government is particularly aware that in mid to late November and early December, a large number of Australian school graduates may well travel to Indonesia, particularly Bali for what has become known as schoolies week,'' Mr Smith said. "We ask those young graduates and their parents to very carefully bear in mind the travel advice...

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Lawyers for three Islamic militants on death row for the 2002 Bali bombings lodged a legal challenge on Wednesday over Indonesia's method of executing convicts by firing squad, calling it inhumane. The three men -- Imam Samudra, Amrozi and Mukhlas, also known as Ali Gufron -- face a firing squad for their roles in the nightclub bombings on the island of Bali that killed 202 people. "We believe that execution by way of a gunfire is inhumane. It is for these reasons that the defense attorneys are applying to challenge the legislation," said lawyer Wirawan Adnan, adding...

INDONESIAN prosecutors have scouted possible sites for the impending executions of the three death row Bali bombers. Islamic militants Amrozi, his brother Mukhlas and Imam Samudra could be executed at any time over the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people including 88 Australians. Indonesia's Attorney-General Hendarman Supandji has said authorities want the trio put before a firing squad "as soon as possible" and before the start of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan in early September. Indonesia carries out executions by firing squad, but does not disclose the time or place.

THREE Bali bombers on death row over the 2002 bombings could soon be executed after a dramatic end to their final appeal today. Their lawyer Fahmi Bachmid today withdrew from their last-ditch legal appeal, bringing it to an abrupt end. Outside court, Chief Judge Ida Bagus Putu Madeg said the judges would now treat the appeal, known as a judicial review, as if it had "never existed". "With this, whatever happened in the previous hearings is considered to not exist," Madeg told AAP after the hearing for convicted terrorist Imam Samudra. "We will not convey this (case) to the Supreme...

THE three Bali bombers on death row say they are ready to die and will not be asking for a pardon. They have also expressed delight at the controversy surrounding their impending executions, saying the more pain they cause, the greater their reward in heaven. "I'm very happy, especially after hearing that John Howard is very angry with us," Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, the so-called smiling assassin, said yesterday at the island prison where he is held. "The more he is angry, the more I will get rewards from God, right? "The more I make infidels angry, the more I will...

AUSTRALIA will not appeal to Indonesia to stop the execution of three men convicted of playing key roles in the 2002 Bali bombings, Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer said today. Amnesty International has called on Australians to lobby Indonesian authorities to save the men, as part of its on-going campaign against capital punishment. Amrozi Nurhasyim, Ali Ghufron (alias Mukhlas) and Imam Samudera face imminent execution by firing squad for their involvement in the terrorist attacks that killed 202 people including 88 Australians. Mr Downer said despite Australia's opposition to capital punishment, the Government would not intervene. “The Australian Government won't...

Murder 'infidels', Mukhlas urgesSian Powell,  The Australian, December 19, 2005BALI bombings commander Mukhlas has written a fanatical call-to-arms from his death-row prison cell, exhorting Muslims to kill Westerners. Published on a website on the orders of notorious terror chief Noordin Mohammed Top, the polemic demonstrates the undiminished fervour of Mukhlas, who has been sentenced to death for commanding the Bali bomb blasts in 2002 that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians. "You who still have a shred of faith in your hearts, have you forgotten that to kill infidels and the enemies of Islam is a deed that has a...

THE Bali terror bombing which killed more than 190 people and caused millions of dollars in losses cost just $US30,000 ($A54,000) to finance, the chief investigator into the blast said today. A man called Mukhlas, who was arrested on Tuesday and is operations chief of the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) regional network, has admitted accepting the cash in two installments from a Malaysian called Wan Min, said the investigator, I Made Mangku Pastika. Pastika said the money had been "all spent and gone" and that Wan Min was now detained in Malaysia. Police are still investigating who gave the money to...

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Dec. 4 — A man suspected of being a senior commander in a regional terrorist network, and a mastermind of the Bali disco bombing attack, was arrested here today, the Indonesian police said. The arrest of the suspect, Ali Ghufron, better known as Mukhlas, was heralded by diplomats and security officials as a significant step in learning more about the regional terrorist network, Jemaah Islamiyah, and its links to Al Qaeda. "It's a big breakthrough, not only into the investigation of the Bali attack, but into shutting down the terrorist network here," said a senior Western diplomat. "That's...