• Indonesia Detained 18 years later an Islamist wanted for the Bali attacks

  • 2011 Indonesia Sentences Al Qaeda Leader in Southeast Asia to 15 Years in Prison

It was a Saturday night in 2002 when

three bombs killed 202 people in Kuta Beach, the most touristy drinking area on the Indonesian island of Bali

.

They are the deadliest attacks in the history of the Southeast Asian country, the work of the terrorists of

Jemaah Islamiyah

(JI), a network linked to Al-Qaeda and founded in the 1980s by Indonesian Islamist militants exiled in Malaysia.

Behind the attacks, as a

spiritual ideologue and co-founder of the terrorist network

, was a radical Islamist cleric named

Abu Bakar Bashir

.

Following the Bali bombings, Bashir was arrested, but Indonesian prosecutors could not prove his direct link to the massacre and terrorism, although he was sentenced to 18 months in prison for "immigration violations."

It was not until 2011, when Bashir finally received a

15-year sentence - although the sentence was later reduced - for supporting a jihadist training camp

, where they recruited soldiers to attack foreign tourists.

A couple of years ago, a rumor began to spread in Indonesia that Bashir would receive

clemency for his age (80 years) and his health problems

.

Then, the Indonesian government confirmed that they were considering the possibility of him remaining under house arrest.

As soon as 2021 began, the authorities confirmed the news that his followers had been waiting for years.

"Bashir will be released according to the expiration date of his sentence

," Rika Aprianti, a spokeswoman for the General Directorate of Corrections of the Ministry of Human Rights, said in a statement.

Finally, this Friday, the radical leader has been released

.

His family went to pick him up by car in the early morning from the prison on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta.

Almost 20 years have passed since the Bali bombing.

Victims from 21 countries were killed in the tourist pearl of Indonesia

.

Especially from Australia: 88 of the 202 deceased.

"The release of Bashir was very distressing for the families and friends of the victims," ​​said Australian Prime Minister

Scott Morrison

.

"The decision was tough and heartbreaking. Australia had always asked for harsher, more proportionate and fair sentences for those involved in the attack," concluded Morrison.

Bashir's release comes

less than a month after Indonesian police detained Zulkarnaen

, a top Jemaah Islamiya leader who had been in search and capture for more than a decade for his role as the terrorist organization's military chief during the attacks. from Bali.

The cell led by Zulkarnaen is

suspected of having also organized the suicide attack against the Marriott hotel in Jakarta

that left 12 dead in 2003.

According to a report by the BBC Sidney Jones, director of the Institute for Conflict Policy Analysis in Jakarta,

the operational decisions of the terrorist group were made by Zulkarnaen, but the cleric Bashir would have given the green light to the attacks

.

"He didn't plan it. But he's the person who could have stopped him if he had said no," says Jones.

"Upon his release, he will be treated as an elderly statesman by conservative Muslim groups who would like to see more Islamic law in Indonesia. But I don't think he is likely to inspire a new round of violent extremism."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Indonesia

  • Australia

  • Attacks

  • Terrorism

  • Al Qaeda

International Detained 18 years later an Islamist wanted for the Bali attacks

AfricaAt least 50 people killed by suspected jihadists in Niger

SpainInterior reinforces security due to risk of jihadist attack

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