Australia braced for impending Bali bombers' executions

Two of the Bali bombers facing execution over the attack which killed 202 people prepared for what could be their last family visit on Sunday, as Australia warned against travel to Indonesia.

Ali Fauzi, the younger brother of convicted bombers Amrozi and Mukhlas, left for the high-security Nusakambangan prison in southern Java from the family's village of Tenggulun in the east of the island.

He said he would arrive around dawn on Monday to see his brothers as part of a "routine visit," as the family has yet to be informed that the executions are imminent, even though the green light has been given to the prison authorities.

Defence lawyer Fachmi Bachmid, who accompanied Fauzi on Sunday, told reporters before leaving the village that the family visit was not to attend the executions.

"I want to make it clear that we are going there (prison) not to attend the execution," he said.

"But if we go there and learn that they are going to be executed, then we want to be there to witness," he added.

Another brother of the bombers was due to fly to Bali on Monday to lodge a last-ditch appeal at the Denpasar court that sentenced the bombers to death in 2003 under a tough anti-terrorism law.

It was not clear on what grounds the family would seek to prevent the executions, which are set to take place any day after the bombers exhausted their last legal options following a string of failed appeals.

The condemned men -- Amrozi, 47, Mukhlas, 48, and Imam Samudra, 38 -- have been placed in isolation and the order for their death by firing squad has been delivered, a source at Nusakambangan has said.

The 2002 bombings targeted nightspots packed with Western tourists, killing more than 160 foreigners including 88 Australians. The bombers said they were retaliation for US-led aggression in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Security forces have been placed on high alert across the mainly Muslim archipelago of 234 million people, with special attention paid to the US and Australian embassies amid fear of reprisals from Islamist extremists.

A police spokesman in Bali said some 3,000 police had been deployed on the island alone, especially around ports and the airport.

"We have intensified searches of cars and people entering Bali," said Sri Harmiti. "This will be continued even after the execution.

"It's important to anticipate possible reprisal from Islamist extremists if the executions are carried out," she said.

Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said if Australians insisted on travelling to Indonesia they should stay clear of places that could be targeted for attack.

"We are making sure that we advise Australians firstly to reconsider their need to travel to Indonesia," Smith told Nine Network television.

"We also indicate to them that if they do travel to Bali and Indonesia, to keep away from sites which have obviously been terrorist sites in the past."

The United States has also warned citizens in Indonesia to "maintain a low profile" and avoid demonstrations.

The bombers were convicted and sentenced under a new law that was applied retroactively, leading anti-death penalty campaigners to question the legality of their executions and feeding anger among the bombers' supporters.

Militants from the most violent wing of the Jemaah Islamiyah regional terror network, which carried out the Bali attacks with the alleged financial backing of Al-Qaeda, are still active in plotting attacks in Indonesia.

Malaysian extremist Noordin Mohammad Top, the alleged mastermind behind the Bali attacks and subsequent bombings in Indonesia, including a suicide car-bombing on the Australian embassy in 2004, is still at large.

The convicted bombers have warned of retribution in a string of media appearances they have been allowed to conduct from prison. They have also said they are eager to die as "martyrs."

Hand-written posters appeared Saturday in the East Java city of Surabaya promising retaliation for the bombers' execution. "One word for Amrozi's killers: retribution," said one.

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