Relief and fear as executions near

By Lucy Williamson
BBC News, Jakarta

Down behind the sweeping tree-lined avenues of Jakarta's diplomatic area, Indonesians sitting at the roadside food stalls are absorbing the news.

It is only a few hours since the spokesman for Indonesia's attorney general made the announcement: that the country's best-known prisoners - Amrozi, Ali Ghufron and Imam Samudra - are due to be executed at the beginning of next month.

But the news has travelled at lightning speed around the city.

"Yes, I've heard already," Sidi tells me, lounging at a cafe table. "It's too bad that justice in Indonesia takes a while. I think they should have been executed a while ago."

Sitting next to him, his friend agrees: "The sooner the better. If we keep delaying it, it's not good for other areas of the country where similar things may happen."

'They might do something'

It has been six years since the men co-ordinated the bomb attacks on the island of Bali, blowing up two nightclubs. They were packed with people: 202 died, Indonesians alongside Westerners; tourists, taxi drivers, nightclub staff.

The men on death row have never expressed remorse for the bombings; never regretted killing people they regard as infidels.

But there are very few Indonesians who support them. Eating a late lunch at a nearby table, Ratna says she's happy Amrozi and the others will be executed next month.

"The only thing is," she says, "I'm a little worried his followers may do something when the time comes."

And that has been a key issue for the authorities here all along. Supporters of the radical Islamist group, Jemaah Islamiah, are expected to gather in their thousands after the execution to mark the passage of their comrades' bodies back home for burial.

The security forces here say they are considering flying the bodies back rather than allowing the crowd a long and emotional trip by road.

Indonesia may be largely tolerant, but there is still a debate among some people over the role Islam should play here. And executing men who say they were defending Islamic values carries a risk.

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