Editing 2002 Bali bombings (section)

=== Constitutional appeals ===
On 23 July 2004, one of the convicted bombers, [[Masykur Abdul Kadir|Maskur Abdul Kadir]], successfully appealed his conviction. He had been tried under retroactive laws which were introduced after the bombing and which were employed to aid the prosecution of those involved in the attack. These laws were used by the prosecution instead of existing criminal laws as they allowed the death penalty to be imposed and lowered certain evidentiary restrictions.

The highest court in Indonesia, the [[Constitutional Court of Indonesia|Constitutional Court]], found by a margin of five to four that trying the terrorist suspects under these retroactive laws violated Article 28I(1) of the [[Constitution of Indonesia|constitution]] [2]. The minority judges argued that international human rights documents such as the [[International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights]] allowed an exception to not applying retrospective legislation in the prosecution of crimes against humanity. The majority found that this argument was inconsistent with the text of Article 28I(1) which states that the rights listed there "cannot be limited under any circumstances".

Following this decision, charges related to the bombings against Idris, who had confessed to participating in the attacks to the police and court, were dismissed. The legal status of Kadir, Idris and others who might have their convictions quashed following the ruling on the retrospective law is unclear.

The Constitutional Court is a relatively new body, created after the fall of [[Suharto]], and this decision was one of the first to overrule the constitutionality of the government's application of a law.