Source: ReutersBy Dadang TriSERANG, Indonesia, Nov 6 (Reuters) -...

Source: Reuters
By Dadang Tri

SERANG, Indonesia, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Indonesian officials on Thursday told the family of one of three militants on death row for the 2002 Bali bombings to be "ready to accept the execution once it happens", a sign the executions may take place soon.

Indonesia does not announce the specific date or time of executions, but the attorney general's office has said the three Islamist militants -- Imam Samudra, Mukhlas and Amrozi -- would be executed in early November for their role in the nightclub bombings on the resort island that killed 202 people.

Amri Hata, the head of the local prosecutor's office, visited Imam Samudra's house in Lopang Gede village in West Java's Serang area with the head of the Serang Ulema Council and Serang police chief amid heavy police guard.

"We just informed the family if (the executions) happened, the family must be ready to accept," he told reporters.

Security has been tight around Indonesia in recent days ahead of the executions.

In a statement from their lawyers, the men said their blood would "become the light for the faithful ones and burning hell fire for the infidels and hypocrites".

In an interview with Reuters late last year, the militants said they had no regrets, except for the fact that some Muslims had died in the blasts.

The two blasts on Bali's Kuta strip on Oct. 12, 2002, dealt a severe blow to the island's tourist industry.

The attacks by the Southeast Asian militant group Jemaah Islamiah were intended to scare away foreigners as part of their drive to make Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, part of a larger Islamic caliphate.

The families of the bombers say they have mailed a letter to the president following media reports that the executions were imminent.

"The execution of my brother is against the law and therefore a murder, and I will sue," Lulu Jamaluddin, Imam Samudra's younger brother, told Reuters.

The bombers' lawyers have repeatedly said the Constitutional Court had struck down retroactive provisions in anti-terrorism laws, which were written in the wake of the 2002 attacks and used to convict them.

However, authorities said the Constitutional Court's ruling did not apply to the Bali bombers.

Some analysts fear a hardline backlash if the executions go ahead.

Members of the Indonesia Muslim Forum, Islamic Reformist Forum and Muslim Lawyers Team rallied at the attorney general's office and National Commission of Human Rights on Thursday asking the government to halt the executions.

Officials said the three men, who are in isolated cells on Nusakambangan prison island, will be executed there by firing squads. (Reporting by Dadang Tri in Banten and Olivia Rondonuwu in Jakarta; Editing by Sugita Katyal and Paul Tait)