The Indonesian cleric, Abu Bakar Bashir, who inspired the terrorists that carried out the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings killing 202 people, will be released on 1 June, says his lawyer, Wirawan Adnan. In an interview with the Australian Associated Press, Adnan said that he fears that the Australian government might put pressure on Indonesian authorities to keep Bashir in jail. Bashir is serving 30 months in jails for his involvement in the bombings. Australia, which lost 88 citizens in the attacks, blame the Jemaah Islamiyah for the bombings and accuse Bashir of being its spiritual head. Bashir has always denied his involvement in the bombings and in August, to commemorate Indonesia's independence day, he had one month cut off his sentence. "By June 1 he will have served his full 29 months so he will be a free man," Adnan said.Both Australia and the United States have labelled Bashir a dangerous terror threat. After the 2002 bombings, Bashir was arrested and put on trial in 2003. However the terrorism charges were eventually thrown out and he was instead charged on immigration violations. When he had finished serving that sentence, fresh evidence was produced and he was rearrested and sentenced last year for his involvement in the Bali bombings.
In the interview, Adnan said that the Indonesian government should not attempt to try the same tactics again just before Bashir's release and that the Australian government also should not put pressure on Jakarta to keep him in jail. "Trying to keep him locked up would be ridiculous," the lawyer said adding that it would only make Australia look "foolish" in the eyes of most Indonesians.
Adnan said that his client had told him that "he will forgive the Indonesian government and the Australian government for doing this to him. He will not try to sue the government or anything. He just accepts this is coming from God as part of his struggle. I have faith in him that he is harmless."
