US anger over early release of ‘terrorist’ cleric

INDONESIAN cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, due to be released from prison next month, had “intense and deep” involvement planning and executing terror attacks, US Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said yesterday.

Mr Ridge said he was disappointed with the Indonesian Supreme Court’s decision yesterday to halve Bashir’s three-year prison sentence on unrelated immigration charges. Bashir is due to be released on April 4 after spending 18 months in jail.

Speaking to reporters in Jakarta, Mr Ridge said he hoped Bashir could “be brought to justice in a different way”. He did not elaborate.

The United States government believed Bashir had an “intense and deep involvement in the planning and execution of terrorist activities”, Mr Ridge said after meeting Indonesia’s Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

Bashir was detained shortly after the October 2002 Bali bombings amid accusations he headed Jemaah Islamiyah, the al Qaida-linked regional Islamic terror group blamed for a series of blasts.

However, he was not implicated in the bombings, which killed 202 people, and was instead convicted on unrelated forgery and immigration charges.

A court originally sentenced the 65-year old cleric to four years in jail for treason and immigration offences. An appeals tribunal later reduced this to three years and quashed the treason conviction.

Australia, which lost 88 citizens to the Bali blasts, also expressed disappointment over the high court verdict.

Bashir has always denied involvement in terrorist activities, but has refused to criticise either the Bali bombers or those behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

He also has been harshly critical of the US government over its alleged mistreatment of Muslims.

Despite criticism that it has been soft on Bashir, Indonesia’s secular government has been praised for its investigation into the Bali and Marriott attacks, in which about 150 suspects have been arrested.

A lawyer for Bashir said Ridge's remarks were part of a “propaganda campaign” against the cleric.

“He has been sentenced already,” said the lawyer.

“It is the job of US officials to campaign against terrorism, but I can tell them my client is not a terrorist.”