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Aussie outrage forces Indonesia to review sentence reductions
INDONESIA said today it was reviewing a decree granting automatic remissions to prisoners following Australian outrage over news that convicted 2002 Bali bombing conspirator Abu Bakar Bashir is eligible for another sentence cut."The Government is reviewing the presidential decree on remissions particularly concerning serious crimes, including terrorism," Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said six days after fresh attacks on Bali killed 19 people plus the three suicide bombers. "We see there is a need to do that," he said, but denied the move was in response to Australia's protest against a sentence cut for Bashir. Mr Wirayuda said the Government had no plans to cancel further remissions for Bashir and other convicted militants pending the review of the decree. Sentence cuts are granted automatically to prisoners considered well-behaved to mark Independence Day and religious festivals. On August 17 Bashir's 30-month sentence was cut by more than four months to mark Independence Day, triggering an angry response in Australia. A Jakarta prison official said on Wednesday that Bashir may be among thousands of prisoners to receive sentence cuts to mark the main Muslim festival of Eid al-Fitr in early November. Prime Minister John Howard warned on Thursday that any further reduction for Bashir would cause "deep and lasting anger" in Australia. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer will visit Indonesia on October 12 to attend commemorations of the first Bali bombings and hold talks on counter-terrorism cooperation. Mr Downer is expected to again raise Australia's request that Indonesia formally ban Jemaah Islamiyah, whose name means "Islamic community". "The problem for the Government is that Jemaah Islamiyah is an organisation that doesn't formally exist. So we have to weigh the benefits of banning an organisation which doesn't formally exist," Mr Wirayuda said. Under the remissions decree, prisoners who have served between six months and one year are eligible for a one-month sentence cut and those serving more than one year could get two months struck off. Bashir was sentenced in March for a criminal conspiracy leading to the 2002 bombings. Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World 2005-10-07 |
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