Imam Samudra (also known as Abdul Aziz, Qudama/Kudama, Fatih/Fat, Abu Umar or Heri[1]) (14 January 1970 in Serang, Banten (then part of West Java province) – 9 November 2008 in Nusakambangan, Central Java) was an Indonesian convicted for the 2002 Bali bombing and was executed on 9 November 2008.
On 7 August 2003, he was found guilty for his role in the Bali bombing and sentenced to death by firing squad. Originally incarcerated in Denpasar's prison, he was moved to the high-security prison island of Nusakambangan.
Together with the two other bombers who received death sentences, he launched a constitutional challenge against the use of firing squads. Samudra and the two other bombers preferred beheading, saying that it was a more Islamic form of execution.[2] In October 2008 he remained unrepentant and claimed revenge would be taken for his death.[3]
During the month, his final appeals were rejected and the Attorney General's office announced that he would be executed by firing squad in early November 2008.[2] According to a source in Indonesia's Attorney General Office, the execution was to be done before the end of Sunday, 9 November 2008. This was reportedly delayed from the original plan to allow a representative from the family to identify the body post-execution. However, no representative from Samudra's family were in attendance.[4][5]
Samudra, along with Amrozi bin Nurhasyim and Ali Ghufron were shot at 00:15 local time on 9 November 2008. They were executed by firing squad.[6]
From his cell, he wrote an auto-biography in Indonesian titled I Fight Terrorists (Aku Melawan Teroris in original), where the "terrorists" are the Americans. It went on sale for $3, on a run of 5000 copies.[7] In 2004, CNN described the book as a "bestseller in Indonesia".[8]