JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A firebrand cleric who inspired bombings in Bali and other attacks walked free from an Indonesian prison Friday after completing his sentence for funding the training of...
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia's president said Tuesday that an elderly Islamic cleric who inspired the Bali bombers and other extremists won't be released from prison unless he renounces radicalism, backing down from plans to free him without conditions.
President Joko Widodo said Abu Bakar Bashir, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2011, must fulfil conditions such as loyalty to the state and the national ideology to be eligible for release.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia's prime minister said on Tuesday he would be disappointed if radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir were released from prison early and urged Indonesia to show respect for the victims of the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that the firebrand preacher inspired.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — An Islamic cleric who was the ideological leader of the Bali bombers and other Indonesian militants is being released early from a 15-year prison sentence after the country's president relented on a condition that he renounce radical beliefs, lawyers confirmed Saturday.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The ailing 80-year-old radical cleric who inspired the Bali bombers and other violent extremists in Indonesia will be released from prison, Indonesia's president said Friday, slashing a 15-year sentence.
The announcement of Abu Bakar Bashir's imminent release came during campaigning for a presidential election due in April in which opponents of President Joko Widodo have tried to discredit him as insufficiently Islamic.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Australia on Saturday urged Indonesia against any leniency toward the ideological leader of the Bali bombers as the government considers house arrest or other forms of clemency for the ailing radical cleric who is now in prison.
Wiranto, Indonesia's top security minister, said Friday that a meeting of security ministers and police will make a recommendation on Abu Bakar Bashir's treatment to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A radical Islamic cleric who was the spiritual leader of the Bali bombers and a force behind a jihadist training camp raided in 2010 has been transferred from prison to a Jakarta hospital.
Guarded by four paramilitary police officers, the frail white-bearded Abu Bakar Bashir arrived at the hospital in Indonesia's capital on Thursday morning. He appeared unable to walk unassisted and was helped into a wheelchair as photographers and TV cameramen jostled around him.