Indonesian cleric linked to Bali bombings to get early release

A radical cleric thought to be the spiritual leader of the Bali bombers will be released from prison on medical grounds, Indonesia's president said on Friday.

Abu Bakar Bashir, 80, is believed to have been a key figure in terror network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), which was blamed for the 2002 bombings on the holiday island which killed more than 200 people, mostly foreign tourists.

It was Indonesia's deadliest militant attack and prompted Jakarta to beef up anti-terror co-operation with the US and Australia, which has previously opposed clemency for Bashir.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Friday that he had agreed to order the ailing preacher's release from a prison on the outskirts of the capital.

"The first reason is humanitarian," Mr Widodo said.

"He is old ... and his health condition was also part of the consideration."

In 2011, the firebrand preacher – once synonymous with militant Islam in Indonesia - was sentenced to 15 years in jail for helping fund a paramilitary group training in the conservative Islamic province of Aceh.

Bashir, the co-founder of an infamous Islamic boarding school known for producing militants, was jailed after authorities in the world's biggest Muslim majority country broke up the camp.

Several militants convicted over their involvement in the Bali bombings have been executed while two others, including Malaysian Noordin Mohammed Top, were killed in police raids in 2009 and 2010.

Bashir, who has repeatedly denied involvement in terror attacks, was also previously jailed over the Bali bombings but that conviction was quashed on appeal.

Al Qaeda-linked JI was founded by a handful of exiled Indonesian militants in Malaysia in the 1980s, and grew to include cells across South-East Asia.

As well as the 2002 Bali bombings, the radical group was blamed for a deadly 2003 car bomb at the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta and a suicide car bomb the following year outside the Australian embassy.

An anti-terror crackdown weakened some of Indonesia's most dangerous networks, including Jemaah Islamiyah.

The emergence of ISIS provided a rallying point for Indonesia's radicals, with hundreds travelling to the Middle East to join the extremist militants.

Last year, a wave of deadly suicide bombings at churches and a police post rocked Indonesia's second biggest city Surabaya.

Those attacks were carried out by families – including children – linked to local extremist network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, which has pledged allegiance to ISIS.

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