THE 2002 BALI BOMBINGS’ KEY DATES

Coming this Friday 9 November 2012, it will be the fourth anniversary of the execution of the Bali Bombers in Indonesia. I planned to blog more about Amrozi on how he made me switched from being a strong opponent to supporter of capital punishment and I will do it on the same day, he was executed. But before that, I will give some information about the other two Bali Bombers, but in this post, I will give the timeline of the trials. 

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/bali-bombings-key-dates/story-e6frf7l6-1111117984212

Bali bombings' key dates

• Sunday Herald Sun
• November 09, 2008 12:00AM

KEY dates since the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Timeline:

* October 12, 2002: Twin blasts in Bali's popular Kuta Beach nightclub area kill 202 people, including 88 Australians, and wound hundreds more.

* November 5, 2002: The first suspect arrested over the blasts - mechanic Amrozi bin Nurhasyim - is detained in Tenggulun village East Java.

* November, 21, 2002: The accused mastermind of the bombings Imam Samudra is arrested in Merak Port, West Java.

* December 4, 2002: The alleged leader of the regional terrorist group, and senior Jemaah Islamiah operative Mukhlas, aka Ali Gufron and Amrozi's older brother, is arrested in Central Java.

* May 12, 2003: Amrozi becomes the first of the bombers to go on trial in Denpasar District Court, charged with plotting the terrorist attacks and buying the explosives.

He is nicknamed the smiling assassin because of the glee he expresses during the trial about the carnage he caused.

* June, 2003: Separate trials begin for Samudra and Mukhlas.

* August 4, 2003: Twelve people are killed when an Islamic extremist drives an explosives-packed car into Jakarta's Marriott Hotel.

* August 7, 2003: Amrozi is found guilty and sentenced to death.

* September 10, 2003: Samudra is found guilty and sentenced to death for masterminding the attacks.

* September 16, 2003: The High Court in Bali rejects Amrozi's appeal against his sentence.

* October 2, 2003: Mukhlas is found guilty and sentenced to death.

* November 17, 2003: The High Court in Bali rejects Samudra's appeal against his death sentence.

* January 3, 2004: The High Court in Bali rejects Mukhlas' appeal against his death sentence.

* January 6, 2004: Indonesia's Supreme Court rejects a further appeal by Amrozi.

* March 23, 2004: Indonesia's Supreme Court rejects a further appeal by Samudra.

* July 2004: Indonesia's Constitutional Court rules that a retroactive anti-terrorism law introduced after the Bali bombings, and used to convict the three bombers, is unconstitutional.
But officials say the bombers' convictions stand because the court's finding does not apply retroactively.

* September 9, 2004: Twelve people die when an explosives-filled van explodes in front of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.

* October 1, 2005: Three suicide bombers launch Bali's second terrorist attacks in Jimbaran Bay and Kuta, also killing 20 innocent people, including four Australians.

* October 2005: The three 2002 bombers are moved to Central Java after more than 1,000 protesters storm their Bali prison, demanding their immediate execution, following the second Bali bombings.

* July, 2006: Indonesia's Attorney General's Office says it is preparing to execute the 2002 bombers.

* July 25, 2006: An official from Bali's prosecutors office says the three might be executed in August.

* August 21, 2006: Indonesia officially delays the executions after their lawyers flag a final appeal, known as a judicial review.

* December 6, 2006: Indonesia's Attorney General gives the men until Christmas Eve to file their last-ditch appeal, before a decision is made on their executions.

* December 7, 2006: The bombers' lawyers lodge what will be their first of three eventual Supreme Court challenges, called judicial reviews, arguing the anti-terrorism law used to convict the men was retroactive and cannot be applied because it was introduced after the bombings.

* January 11, 2007: The bombers' lawyer Fahmi Bachmid walks out of Denpasar District Court abruptly ending their final appeal, after clashing with judges in trying to have the proceedings moved to Central Java.

* June 18, 2007: Indonesian academic Agung Setyadi is jailed for six years for sending a laptop to Samudra in prison in May 2005.

* Aug-Sept 2007: The three bombers say they will not seek presidential pardons, after the Supreme Court throws out their first judicial review challenges in separate rulings.

* October 12, 2007: Then prime minister John Howard says Australians would feel let down if the Bali bombers are not executed.

- The bombers tell visiting journalists they are ready to die and won't be asking for a presidential pardon.

* December 15, 2007: The alleged spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah, radical Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, visits the bombers in prison to boost their spirits, and warns of a "huge disaster" for Indonesia if the executions proceed.

* January 28, 2008: The Indonesian government concedes a new, second judicial review request by the bombers' lawyers could slow plans for their executions.

* February 4, 2008: The executions are pushed back again after the Supreme Court accepts the bombers' request for a second, final judicial review of their cases.

* March 25, 2008: The bombers' lawyer Fahmi Bachmid again dramatically withdraws from the second last-ditch legal appeal, after a protracted bid to either have the case heard in Cilacap, Central Java, close to the bombers' island prison, or allow the three to return to Bali to attend.

* May 13, 2008: The three bombers launch a request for a third judicial review of their cases.

* July 2008: Indonesia's Supreme Court dismisses that request, saying the bombers were entitled to one judicial review only, clearing the way for their execution.

* July 21, 2008: Indonesia's Attorney General announces the three men will be executed "as soon as possible".

* July 23, 2008: Indonesian prosecutors scout possible sites for the executions.

* August 14, 2008: The Constitutional Court in Jakarta hears preliminary arguments in a new side-line challenge by the bombers against the method of execution.

The bombers claim death by firing squad amounts to torture because they may not die straight away.

Their lawyers write to the government seeking to delay the executions until after the court rules on the challenge.

* August 20, 2008: Indonesia's Attorney General's Office says the three will not be executed before the holy fasting month of Ramadan in September.

* October 1, 2008: The trio vow their deaths will be avenged on the same day families and friends gather in Bali to mark the third anniversary of the 2005 bombings.

* October 21, 2008: Indonesia's Constitutional Court rejects the bombers' side-line challenge and validates Indonesia's use of the firing squad in executions.

* October 23, 2008: The bombers' lawyers say they will launch yet another appeal, this time a judicial review on behalf of the trio's families.

* October 24, 2008: Indonesia's Attorney General's Office announces the bombers will be executed in "early November" at Nusakambangan Island, off Central Java. It does not give a specific date.

* October 24, 2008: Australia updates its travel advice for Indonesia, warning the imminent executions would compound an already significant terrorism risk.

* November 8, 2008: Mukhlas, his younger brother Amrozi and Imam Samudra were put to death for their lead roles in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings. 

- AAP