Indonesia has reduced the 30-month sentence handed down to controversial cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir for his role in the Bali bombings. Ba'asyir, who was found guilty in March of conspiracy in the 2002 attack that killed 202 people, had his jail term cut by four months and 15 days. | They still dead? Just asking. |
Ba'asyir has denied the charges against him, but his appeal has been rejected. Ba'asyir "received a remission of four months and 15 days," Dedi Sutardi, chief warden at Cipinang Prison in Jakarta, announced.
This means the 66-year-old cleric could be released from prison by May 2007. Mr Sutardi said Ba'asyir deserved a remission for good behaviour.
"All he does in prison is devote himself to religious service," he was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.
| He's a very holy man, don't ya know |
"I just find it obnoxious, repulsive. I always thought life was more valuable than that, but it appears that it's not," Mr Deegan told reporters.
| Not a infidels life, it seems |
Both the US and Australian governments criticised the original length of Ba'asyir's sentence when it was handed down after his trial. Washington has alleged Jemaah Islamiah (JI) has ties to Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. JI is also suspected of being behind the 2003 JW Marriott hotel bombing in Jakarta that killed 12 people including the suicide bomber, and the September 2004 Australian Embassy bombing that killed nine, including the bomber.
Ba'asyir was cleared of involvement in the JW Marriott bombing by the court in March. He was also acquitted of ordering the Bali bombings.
But many intelligence experts are convinced that he remains a dangerous figurehead for a generation of Muslim militants.
Some 2,000 prisoners are said to have had their sentences reduced as a reward for good behaviour to mark the country's Independence Day. But the ringleaders of the Bali attack, who were sentenced either to death or life in prison, are not eligible for any remission.