Bashir the mullah pig can go to hell!

[Kiwi]

Fury after Bashir visits Bali bombers

JAKARTA: Indonesian hardline Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir has visited the three key Bali bombers awaiting execution, sparking outrage from Australian survivors of the 2002 atrocity.

In a show of support to the death-row convicts, Bashir, joined by dozens of members of the Indonesian Mujahedin Council and several relatives of the prisoners, travelled at the weekend to the high-security Nusakambangan jail off the south coast of central Java.

Bashir, believed to be the spiritual head of Southeast Asian terror network Jemaah Islamiah, said the visit was "to show concern to Muslims who are being unjustly treated", adding that the three were "not terrorists but counter-terrorists" and "Mujaheds", or holy warriors.

"I am worried that if they are executed, there will be a big disaster," Bashir said. He did not elaborate.

The cleric said the three felt bad that the bombings had claimed the lives of or injured several Muslims.

"That is why they are now fasting for two months to make up for the loss of innocent lives," he said.

Bashir, who was jailed for 30 months for conspiracy over the Bali bombings but later cleared, urged Indonesian officials to ignore any demands from the US or Australia.

"Indonesian officials must introspect before they follow the US and Australia's interests," he said.

The men - Imam Samudra, Amrozi and Ali Ghufron - were convicted for their roles in the October 12, 2002, bomb attacks on Bali nightclubs, which left 202 people dead, including 88 Australians.

But survivor Peter Hughes, who suffered burns to 60 per cent of his body from the attacks and later lapsed into a month-long coma, expressed frustration that the men's case appeared to have stalled. "Nothing's progressed in five years. We're in the same boat as we were five years ago," he told the Seven Network.

Sydney man Erik de Hart, who was in Bali and lost most of his Coogee Dolphins Rugby League Club teammates during the attack, said the bombers were being rewarded for their crime.

"They have to be punished. Their lifestyles today are probably better off than they were five years ago," he said yesterday.

"All those families lost a member - they are never going to be the same again - and here they are playing happy family.

"It doesn't surprise me at all - the last five years the bombers have been treated like heroes and rewarded on a consistent basis."

The Indonesian Supreme Court has already rejected appeals lodged on behalf of all three of the bombers. No timetable has been set for the execution.

The attack was blamed on the militant JI network, which has been linked to al-Qa'ida, and the three admitted during their trial that they were JI members.

JI is blamed for a series of bomb attacks in Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries.

AFP, AAP