Prosecutors urged a court on Monday to sentence a suspect in last year’s Bali bombings to death — in the first trial over the October 12 attack that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.
Prosecutor Urip Trigunawan said Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, an Islamic militant known as the ”smiling bomber,” deserved to die.
”We conclude that the defendant is responsible for terrorist acts that have caused anxiety, damage and the loss of lives,” he told the Denpasar District Court.
Amrozi listened impassively and stroked his beard when the sentence request was made.
The father of an Australian killed in the bombings, Antony Stewart, cried out, ”Amrozi, you die!” immediately after the prosecutor made his comments.
If sentenced to death, Amrozi would be executed by firing squad.
Amrozi is the first of 34 suspects to go on trial over the bombings. He was charged under the country’s newly enacted anti-terror law
Prosecutors have accused the 40-year-old mechanic of buying the materials and the minivan used in one of the attacks. In earlier testimony, he admitted his role in the Bali bloodshed and told his lawyers he was ready for punishment.
Amrozi is allegedly a member of Jemaah Islamiyah, a regional al-Qaeda linked Islamic group accused of carrying out the Bali attacks.
Soon after his arrest in November, Amrozi was dubbed the ”smiling bomber” after he outraged survivors and relatives of victims when he appeared giggling before TV crews.
He has said he took part in the attack to avenge the suffering of Muslims at the hands of the United States and its allies.
Jemaah Islamiyah allegedly aims to set up a regional fundamentalist Islamic state by using terror attacks to topple South-east Asian governments. – Sapa-AP