Indonesian Islamic militant Amrozi, sentenced to death on Thursday for the Bali bombings, has always displayed a chilling indifference to his own fate — and that of his foreign victims.
”I want a martyr’s death,” Amrozi bin Nurhasyim (41) told reporters from his cell a week ago, forecasting that hundreds more militants would take his place.
When a court granted his wish, the auto-mechanic dubbed the ”laughing bomber” because of his lighthearted demeanour, smiled broadly and shook his fists in the air in triumph.
He will face a firing squad for his part in the worst terrorist attack since September 11 2001 in the United States.
Throughout his trial, Amrozi had refused to plead for leniency and expressed only satisfaction at the death of scores of Western holidaymakers in what he called ”dens of vices”.
In Amrozi’s eyes, bule (white) tourists are a threat to Indonesia’s future and violence is the only language they understand.
He told judges in June that the Sari Club and Paddy’s Bar were vice dens set up as part of a US and Jewish plan to destroy religions.
Amrozi said he felt sorry only for the Indonesian victims. ”For the foreigners, I said, you have learned your lesson.”
The bombing of two nightspots on the resort island on October 12 last year killed 164 Westerners and 38 Indonesians. Investigators say the Jemaah Islamiyah terror group staged the attack to avenge oppression of Muslims worldwide.
Police blame hardline Islamic preachers for turning Amrozi from a mischievous youth into a mass murderer. He attended planning meetings for the Bali attack and purchased one tonne of explosive chemicals and a van to carry the Sari Club bomb.
Amrozi erased the van’s engine and chassis numbers, but overlooked another serial number.
Police traced the vehicle’s ownership and Amrozi was arrested on November 5 in the village of Tenggulun in East Java, where he ran a motorcycle repair and cellphone business.
It was the first breakthrough in a huge multinational investigation.
Amrozi was born in the village, the fifth of 13 children. Media and police reports describe him as a handsome young man who enjoyed racing his motorbike and flirting with girls.
However, he revered an elder brother — Ali Ghufron, alias Mukhlas — who is on trial as the alleged controller of the Bali attack.
Mukhlas and another brother, Ali Imron — also on trial — left Tenggulun to study at a religious school at Ngruki in Central Java, which was established by Abu Bakar Bashir. Amrozi began attending Koran classes given by Bashir in the early 1990s. Bashir, Jemaah Islamiyah’s alleged leader, is on trial separately in Jakarta for treason.
Amrozi, a father of three, was at home when the bombs went off.
Chief Bali investigator I Made Mangku Pastika has said Amrozi hated Americans and wanted to kill as many as possible. His only regret, Pastika said, was that most Bali victims were Australians — 88 of whom died — and not Americans.