Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who inspired Bali bombings, freed from prison
- Bashir was imprisoned in 2011 for his links to a militant training camp in the religiously conservative Aceh province
- He was convicted of funding the military-style camp to train Islamic militants and sentenced to 15 years in jail
Police said they would continue to monitor the activities of Abu Bakar Bashir, who is now 82 and ailing, and his son said Bashir for now would be avoiding activities outside his family due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Bashir was imprisoned in 2011 for his links to a militant training camp in the religiously conservative Aceh province. He was convicted of funding the military-style camp to train Islamic militants and sentenced to 15 years in jail.
Bashir has accumulated 55 months of sentence reductions, which are often granted to prisoners on major holidays, such as Independence Day, religious holiday exemptions and illness, said Rika Aprianti, the spokesperson for the corrections department at the Justice Ministry.
“He is released as his sentence ends and expires,” Aprianti said, adding that her ministry had close cooperation with the National Police’s counterterrorism squad and the National Counterterrorism Agency to provide security during the cleric’s release.
