Indonesia considers objection to Bali bomber’s early release

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s top justice official said Tuesday authorities were considering an early release for the bombmaker in the 2002 Bali attack that killed 202 people, despite upsetting Australia’s leader who described him as “abhorrent.” Hisyam bin Alizein, 55, is better known under his alias Umar Patek as a leading member of the al Qaida-linked Southeast Asian Islamic radical group Jemaah Islamiyah. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described Patek as “abhorrent” and said his early release will cause further distress to Australians who were directly affected by the Bali bombings. “We lost 88 Australian lives in those bombings.” Albanese said he would continue making “diplomatic representations” to Indonesia about Patek’s sentence and a range of other issues, including Australians currently jailed in Indonesia. Patek told reporters earlier this month 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 third-biggest democracy, has imprisoned hundreds of Islamic militants since the Bali bombings.