An update on this story. "Victims' families outraged that Bali bombers attended party," by Mark Forbes and Phillip Coorey in the Sydney Morning Herald
FAMILIES of Bali bomb victims have expressed disgust that those behind the attacks have been allowed out of jail to party and pray at a senior policeman's home.
News that the head of Indonesia's anti-terror unit, Surya Dharma, hosted 20 convicted terrorists and released Muslim radicals late last month emerged yesterday, with an Associated Press report and photographs from a journalist who attended the Muslim fast-breaking party.
Guests included Ali Imron and Mubarok, who received life sentences for their roles in the first Bali bombings, which took the lives of 202 people including 88 Australians.
Brigadier-General Dharma said the gathering was part of a strategy to win over terrorists.
"We approach the terrorists with a pure heart," he said. "We are all Muslims. We make them our brothers, not our enemy."
Craig Salvatore, who lost his wife, Kathy, in the attacks described the news of the gathering between police and terrorists as a "slap in the face".
"Indonesia should have a bloody good look at itself," he said.
The familiar, Akubra-wearing figure of David "Spike" Stuart, whose son Anthony perished at the Sari Club, said he was almost lost for words. "I just think it's so disgusting that they can do this. They are thinking they can get more information off terrorists.
"But they've admitted killing people and now they are out. How can they do this to us just before the anniversary?" he asked. "Canberra should do something. The Government's got to say, 'Keep them in jail or you get no aid'."
Of those who spoke to the Herald, only Maria Kotronakis had any sympathy for the police approach, pointing out that Imron has provided information on participants in the 2004 attack on Australia's Jakarta embassy. Mrs Kotronakis's
twin sister and cousin, her bridesmaids, died in the attacks.
But she, and every other family member interviewed, wanted to see the immediate execution of the three terrorists sentenced to death for their role in the blasts. They all condemned a Labor Party suggestion that they should be spared as part of a wider push against capital punishment.
"They still get to breathe every day, to see their families," Mrs Kotronakis said. "Kill them, get rid of them. They shouldn't have the right to breathe our air."
**Go to Indonesia for a holiday, not in a million years.
Tags: Moslems, Jihadists, Bali, War on Terror, Jihad, Barbarians
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