AUSTRALIA: Australians reacted with grim satisfaction to the news that Amrozi had been sentenced to death for his part in last year's Bali bombings, writes Nick Squires in Sydney.
Australia bore the brunt of the death toll from the October 12th terrorist attack, accounting for 88 of the 202 people killed.
The sight of Amrozi laughing and joking during 18 days of testimony over the past 12 weeks incensed Australians, who followed his trial closely on television and radio.
Speaking within minutes of the sentence being read out by the five-man panel of judges in Denpasar, the Prime Minister, Mr John Howard said: "I'm sure I speak for all Australians in welcoming the guilty verdict handed down by the court.
"It will not be the intention of the Australian government to make any representations to the government of Indonesia that the penalty not be carried out," Mr Howard added.
Mr Kevin Paltridge, from Perth, who lost his 20-year-old son, Corey, in the blast, also welcomed the verdict. "I'm very pleased he's been sentenced to death, just like he sentenced my son and six of his mates to death. Mr Stuart Anstee (24) from Tasmania, who was drinking in the Sari Club when the attack took place and lost a close friend, said: "I think death is the most suitable option in this case."
Other friends and relatives, however, said they would rather have seen Amrozi suffer by being jailed for the rest of his life.
They fear that the 40-year-old former mechanic from Java may become a martyr for Islamic extremists if he is executed by firing squad.
Rugby player Mr Erik de Haart, who lost six team mates from the Coogee Dolphins rugby league club in Sydney, said: "I really didn't want the death sentence.
"I'd liked to have seen the bastard chucked into a deep, dark jail somewhere." Mr de Haart said that while the past 10 months had seemed "never ending", Amrozi's sentencing would help bring closure for many of the survivors of the devastating attack.
Mr Brian Deegan, a magistrate from South Australia, whose son Joshua (22), died in the bombing, said he too would have preferred a prison sentence.
"The thought of anybody dying . . . in the name of my son is totally abhorrent to me," he said. Mr Deegan said Amrozi would be seen as a "common criminal" if he was imprisoned for life, but might be elevated to martyr status if executed.
Mr Mark Andrews, a policeman from Brisbane who was injured in the attack, said he would have liked to see Amrozi "rot in his jail cell". Australians are only too aware that Amrozi's sentencing is the start of a string of trials of other Bali bomb suspects which are likely to continue for many months.