Militant gets 30 months in Bali bombing case
Judges cleared Bashir of more serious terror charges, such as allegations that as head of the al Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah group he planned the 2003 suicide bombing of the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta which killed 12 people, and that he incited his followers to launch terrorist attacks.
The 66-year-old preacher could be released from prison by October 2006 with time already served taken into account. He has been in jail since April last year. Bashir had faced a maximum penalty of death over the Marriott charge, but most analysts had predicted his punishment would be far less - partly due to a weak case by prosecutors. During the five-month trial, only one witness directly testified that Bashir headed Jemaah Islamiyah, the group blamed in both attacks.
