Australia Upset Indonesia Reduced Bali Attacker’s Sentence

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s leader said Friday that he is upset that Indonesia has further reduced the prison sentence of the bomb-maker in the Bali terror attack that killed 202 people, meaning the terrorist could be released in a few days if he is granted parole.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had been told by Indonesian authorities that Umar Patek’s sentence had been reduced by a further five months, bringing their total reductions to nearly two years.

That means Patek could be paroled before the 20th anniversary of the attacks in October.

“This will cause further distress to Australians who were families of victims of the Bali attacks,” Albanese told Channel 9. “We lost 88 Australian lives in those attacks.”

Albanese said he would continue to make “diplomatic representations” to Indonesia about Patek’s sentence and a range of other issues, including Australians currently jailed in Indonesia. Albanese described Patek as “abominable”.

“His actions were the actions of a terrorist,” Albanese told Channel 9. “They had such terrible results for Australian families going on, the trauma that exists.”

Indonesia often grants sentence reductions to prisoners on major holidays, such as the nation’s Independence Day, which was on Wednesday.

Patek received a five-month reprieve on Independence Day for good behavior and could be released this month from Porong prison in East Java province if he is paroled, said Zaeroji, who heads the provincial Justice Ministry office. and Human Rights.

Zaeroji, who goes by one name, said Patek had the same rights as other inmates and had met legal requirements for sentence reductions. “While he was in prison, he behaved very well and regrets his radical past that has harmed the society and the country and has also promised to be a good citizen,” Zaeroji said.

Patek was arrested in Pakistan in 2011 and tried in Indonesia, where he was convicted in 2012. He was originally sentenced to 20 years in prison.

With his time served plus the sentence reduction, he became eligible for parole on August 14. The decision of the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights in Jakarta is still pending, Zaeroji said. If he is denied parole, he could remain in prison until 2029.

Patek was one of several men implicated in the attack, which was widely attributed to Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian militant group with links to al Qaeda. Most of those killed in the bombing of the resort island were foreign tourists.

Another conspirator, Ali Imron, was sentenced to life in prison. Earlier this year, a third militant, Aris Sumarsono, whose real name is Arif Sunarso but is better known as Zulkarnaen, was sentenced to 15 years after his capture in 2020 after 18 years on the run.

Erik de Haart, a survivor of the bombings, said there was little the Australian government could do about Patek’s reduced sentence. He told Seven’s Sunrise that the time for that had passed.

“When you consider all the financial aid that we (Indonesia) have given over the years, with the disasters that they have had, it seems like they are still rubbing our noses,” de Haart said.

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