Abu Bakar Bachir, sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2011 for helping to finance Islamist training camps, has received a reduced sentence.
Le Monde avec AFP
Islamist religious leader Abu Bakar Bashir, who was sentenced for his involvement in the Bali bombings in 2002, was released Friday January 8 after serving his sentence, the prison authorities reported.
“He was handed over to his family who, accompanied by a team of lawyers, had come to pick him up from the prison” near Jakarta, where he was detained, spokeswoman Rika Aprianti said in a statement.
Abu Bakar Bashir, aged 82 years old, was sentenced in 2011 to 15 years in prison for helping to finance Islamist training camps in the conservative province of Aceh. But he received a reduced sentence. His lawyers have also argued the risk of contracting the coronavirus in prison due to his age.
Two years ago, a first attempt to release him had to be postponed after causing great emotion in Indonesia and Australia, countries where dozens of victims of the 2002 attacks came from.
His conviction overturned for lack of evidence
Bashir is considered a central figure in the Islamist organization Jemaah Islamiyah, responsible for the Bali bombings of October 2002, in which more than 200 people, including dozens of Australians, were killed.
He has nevertheless always denied any involvement in these attacks and his conviction for the Bali attacks was overturned on appeal for lack of evidence.
This announcement comes after the arrest in December of the military leader of Jemaah Islamiyah at the time of the attacks, Zulkarnaen, aged 57 and q ui had been on the run for 18 years.