Waiting for Bali bomber executions

Security has tightened around the port

By Lucy Williamson
BBC News, Cilacap, Indonesia

The closest you can get to Indonesia's prison island these days is the little crossing point of Cilacap.

It's a cosy, ramshackle affair of low-slung port buildings and wooden huts serving sweet Javanese coffee and noodles.

A stretch of water a few hundred metres wide is all that separates this little community from the prison island itself.

Nusakambangan island looks untouched, uninhabited, thickly covered with forest.

But in fact it hides Indonesia's most infamous prisoners: Amrozi, Ali Ghufron and Imam Samudra.

These are the men condemned to death for planning and carrying out the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings which killed more than 200 people.

State officials are the only passengers on the ferry to the prison

Dug-out canoes paddle past every now and then, and a couple of larger ferries sit bobbing at the quay.

But no-one's going across to the island at the moment, except state officials.

Even the families of the bombers themselves, who arrived here on Monday morning with an official visiting permit, were turned away - increasing speculation that the executions are now very close indeed.

And that is not the only sign; it's also harder to move around the port itself now.

Rolls of barbed wire have been slung across the entrance, and heavily armed police stand around in groups or sit jiggling their legs nervously as they wait.

Inside the port compound, a police dog barks ferociously at anyone who passes.

Watching all the changes are Cilacap's long-time residents, gathered shyly in a crowd on the road outside.

"Who knows when it will happen?" they say. "It looks like all the preparations are made, but who knows?"

That's the question a lot of people here are asking.

After months of saying his office was ready to carry out the executions, Indonesia's chief prosecutor said last month they would be done at the beginning of November.

He has refused to give a specific date.

Prisoner isolation

Prisoners are meant to be notified of their execution 72 hours beforehand.

Family members have been turned away from prison visits recently

Reports from the prison say the three men were moved to isolation cells on Friday, but their families and lawyers say they have had no warning that the executions are imminent.

Running a local soup cart, Agus has been watching all the changes at the port wryly.

"It's been delayed before," he said. "I don't think the government has the guts to do it."

If the state has finally decided to prove Agus wrong, it appears they have decided to keep everyone else in the dark.

So, another night of waiting rolls in to Cilacap's tiny crossing point.

The crowds trickle away, leaving just the pin-prick lights of the food stalls along the road, and the bright glare of the television crews lined up at the quay.