Bashir's Bali bombing sentence reduced

JAKARTA, Wednesday (AFP) Indonesia has reduced a 30-month sentence handed to militant Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir for his role in the Bali bombings by four months and 15 days, a prison official said Wednesday.

"He received a remission of four months and 15 days," said Dedi Sutardi, the head of Cipinang penitentiary, at a press conference to announce remissions for 2,000 prisoners under his charge to mark Indonesia's Independence Day Wednesday.

The sentence reduction, handed to well-behaved prisoners annually on Independence Day, is likely to anger Australia, which lost 88 citizens in the 2002 blasts and had already raised concerns about the potential sentence cut.

"Abu Bakar Bashir deserves a remission because he is behaving very well. All he does in prison is devote himself to religious service," Sutardi said, adding that he expected Bashir to be free in April next year. Bashir was eligible for a two-month sentence cut as part of the annual remissions, plus a further two months and 15 days for remissions granted every 10 years, he said.

Canberra expressed disappointment at the initial length of the jail term handed to Bashir in March for his involvement in a criminal conspiracy that led to the October 2002 Bali bombings, in which 202 people, mostly tourists, were killed.

He was cleared of more serious charges of planning terrorist attacks.