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Embassy bombers feel no remorse

Two Indonesian terrorists on death row for the 2004 Australian embassy bombing say they feel no remorse and believe they're destined for heaven once they're executed.

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Iwan Darmawan, also known as Rois, and Ahmad Hasan were sentenced to die by firing squad for helping to plan the September 9, 2004, car bomb attack that killed 10 people and wounded about 150.

In a rare interview the pair have told the Jakarta Globe newspaper that six years later they're still not sorry.

"Why should we apologise if we believe that we did right in waging jihad against the infidels?" Darmawan said.

"Why must we show any remorse?"

It was legitimate to attack Australian interests because of its close ties to the US and its "targeting of Muslims", he said.

The men say they are now ready to die and do not plan to launch any further appeals against their sentences.

"In the eyes of Allah I am victorious and I will go to heaven when I am executed. I am not worried at all," Darmawan said.

"If I were to seek clemency or file an appeal that would be the same as apologising to the government. I am not guilty, so why should I apologise?"

Hasan said the words appeal and clemency were not in his dictionary.

"God willing, I will die as a mujahideen (holy warrior)," he said.

The pair was moved to a remote prison island off the south coast of Central Java earlier this year after police said they had uncovered a militant plot to break them out of a Jakarta jail.

The embassy bombing was believed to have been masterminded by Jemaah Islamiah militants Azahari Husin and Noordin Mohammed Top, both of whom have since been killed in police raids.


2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


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