Tied side by side to wooden posts, the bombers — Imam Samudra, Amrozi and Mukhlas, also known as Ali Ghufron — were simultaneously shot in a field on a small prison island off western Java, officials said.
The executions brought an end to years of uncertainty about the fate of the three men, who were convicted in 2003 but whose deaths was put off many times because of government fears about a political or terrorist backlash.One thing I couldn't help noticing is that in Indonesia a process that they describe as slow with many delays takes six years while ours takes 20. I'm not sure what that means.
Another idea that comes to me is that at first what seems to be a cold calculated crime, planned and executed by sound minds, turns into something quite different with the defendant's statement.
In a letter written several weeks ago and posted on a sympathetic Islamist Web site, Mukhlas said he felt no remorse for the killings. “I am neither afraid of prison nor the death penalty,” he wrote. “I am not content with lenience or freedom. And I was not mournful when accused of killing people in the path of God, and at this moment I’d proclaim: ‘In the name of God, I have won.’ ”
To me a guy like this is not of sound mind at all. He's dangerous for sure, but in my opinion does not merit execution. What do you think? How do these guys compare to the mafia hit men on the scale of culpability? How do they compare to the violent damaged killers?
What's your opinion?
