Indonesia releases bombmaker in Bali attacks on parole

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A bombmaker in the 2002 Bali attacks that killed 202 people was released from an Indonesian prison on parole Wednesday after serving half his 20-year sentence, despite the opposition of Australia’s prime minister, who described him as “abhorrent.”

Umar Patek was a leading member of the al-Qaida-linked network Jemaah Islamiyah, which is blamed for the bombings at two nightclubs in Kuta Beach. Indonesian authorities have said Patek was successfully reformed in prison and they will use him to influence other militants to turn away from terrorism.

Patek 55, whose real name is Hisyam bin Alizein, received a total of 33 months of sentence reductions, which are often given to prisoners on major holidays for good behavior, said Rika Aprianti, spokesperson for the Corrections Department at the Justice Ministry. Most recently, he was granted a five-month reduction on Aug. 17, Indonesia’s Independence Day. That meant he has fulfilled the parole requirement of serving two-thirds of his current sentence, she said.

Patek was found guilty by the West Jakarta District Court of helping build a car bomb that was detonated by another person outside the Sari Club in Kuta, moments after a smaller bomb in a backpack was detonated by a suicide bomber inside the nearby Paddy’s Pub nightclub. The attacks killed 202 people — mostly foreign tourists — including 88 Australians, leaving a deep scar in that country.

Aprianti said authorities will monitor Patek and he will have to take part in a mentoring program until his parole ends on April 29, 2030.

She said Patek was escorted by the National Police’s counterterrorism squad, known as Densus 88, when he left Porong prison in East Java province on Wednesday morning to return to his family’s home in Surabaya, the provincial capital.

“If he makes any violations during his parole period … then he will return to his cell,” she said.

News in August of his expected early release sparked outrage in Australia.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described Patek as “abhorrent” and said his release would cause further distress to Australians who were affected by the Bali bombings.

“His actions were the actions of a terrorist,” Albanese told Channel 9 in August. “We lost 88 Australian lives in those bombings.”

Albanese said he would make “diplomatic representations” to Indonesia about Patek’s sentence.

Australia’s objection prompted President Joko Widodo’s administration to delay Patek’s release while Indonesia hosted a meeting of the leaders of the Group of 20 leading rich and developing nations, including Albanese, in Bali in November.

Patek was sentenced to 20 years in prison a decade after the bombing. He left Bali just before the attacks and spent nine years on the run, during which he was considered one of Asia’s most wanted terror suspects.

Patek expressed remorse during his trial, saying he helped make the bombs but did not know how they would be used. He has apologized to the victims’ families, Christians and the government.

Patek told reporters while attending an independence ceremony in August that he was committed to helping the government with deradicalization programs “so that they can fully understand the dangers of terrorism and the dangers of radicalism.”

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation and the third-biggest democracy, has imprisoned hundreds of Islamic militants since the Bali bombings.

Niniek Karmini And Edna Tarigan, The Associated Press