Justice takes a back seat
Delayed execution of homegrown terrorists exposes Indonesian hypocrisy
TWO Indonesian terrorists sentenced to death for the 2004 Australian Embassy bombing in Jakarta are yet to be given a date for executions.
This is despite being sentenced prior to executed Australian drug runners Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
The men, known as Rois and Hasan, are residing on the Nusakambangan prison island where Chan and Sukumaran were executed by firing squad in 2015.
Indonesian Attorney- General HM Prasetyo, who scheduled the executions of Chan, Sukumaran and six other drug runners in April 2015, declined to comment when approached.
Hasan and Rois were sentenced to death in 2005 for the car- bomb blast that killed eight Indonesians.
Chan and Sukumaran were sentenced in 2006. The Australians both expressed remorse during their trials, while both of the Indonesian killers, who have so far been given an extra three years of life, had no sorrow for their actions.
Rois supplied and transported explosives that were placed in a vehicle that blew up outside the embassy; Hasan plan- ned the attack with terror masters Dr Azahari and Noordin M Top, storing the explosives and teaching the suicide bomber how to drive the bombladen truck. Rois said the attack was directly funded by Osama bin Laden. Taufik Andre, executive director of Jakartabased deradi ca l i s a t i o n centre, the Institute for Internation- al Peace Building, or YPP, knows both men from visits to Nusakambangan. “Rois is now a big supporter of ISIS,” he said. “He was involved in the ( January 2016) Thamrin attack ( in central Jakarta), helping with the network, introducing people. “He has been involved from jail in trying to purchase weapons from the southern Philippines and bring them to Java.
“Hasan, on the contrary, has become more and more moderate. He is very co- operative and follows deradicalisation programs. He has tried to appeal but this has not been successful.”
Senior counter- terror and anti- drug officials recently expressed to News Corp Australia in Jakarta that there was a double standard being applied to homegrown terrorists.
They said they hoped the hypocrisy was exposed.