Abu Bakar Ba'asyir


Abu Bakar Ba'asyir waves
to supporters thronging
around him as he walks
out of Cipinang prison.

quote:

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Terror cleric freed from jail
Fears Ba'asyir may inflame militant passions

Tuesday, June 13, 2006; Posted: 10:19 p.m. EDT (02:19 GMT)

SOLO, Indonesia (CNN) -- Controversial Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir has been released after 26 months in an Indonesian jail Wednesday, completing his prison sentence for giving his blessing to the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed more than 200 people.

Ba'asyir's release was greeted by hundreds of supporters outside the prison. He is expected to travel by car to his hometown, a small village outside Solo.

Australia and the United States consider Ba'asyir to be the spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a militant Islamic organization with ties to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda. (Watch Ba'asyir's plans for the future -- 2:44)

The 69-year-old cleric, who was a teacher at an Islamic school in Solo, Indonesia, before his arrest, denies any connections with JI. Those who were convicted in the 2002 bombings -- and several other attacks in Indonesia -- came from his school.

Ba'asyir has been in jail since shortly after the nightclub bombings, although he was not convicted of involvement with those attacks until 2005. Prior to that, he was jailed on immigration violations.

Ba'asyir was accused of connections with other bombings in Indonesia, but was acquitted because of lack of evidence.

The U.S. State Department called Ba'asyir's prison term a "light sentence" and said it was disappointed with the ruling.

Reading from the court decision, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States did not think a person convicted of a "sinister conspiracy to cause a fire or explosion resulting in deaths" should have received such a light sentence.

"That said, it is up to the Indonesians and the Indonesian courts to interpret their own laws," McCormack said.

"So ultimately these kinds of decisions rest with Indonesia, the Indonesian people and the Indonesian courts."

Australia's Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he would have liked the cleric to have spent more time in jail.

But he has told Sky News that the Indonesian government would be bound by an agreement with the United Nations that imposed a number of restrictions on Ba'asyir including freezing his assets and banning him from obtaining weapons.

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