JAKARTA (DPA) – An Indonesian Muslim cleric serving a 15-year jail sentence for terrorism will be released for humanitarian reasons, a presidential aide said on Friday (Jan 18). 

Abu Bakar Bashir, 80, has served eight years of his prison sentence but has sought an early release on the grounds of ill health.

He was convicted in 2011 for inciting militants to carry out terrorist attacks and helping to fund a terrorist training camp in Aceh province, after previous attempts by the authorities to prosecute him for terrorism failed.

“He will be released in the coming days,” said Mr Yusril Ihza Mahendra, a presidential adviser for legal affairs. “We know Abu Bakar Bashir is frail and he wants to be close to his family,” he said.

Bashir was the spiritual leader of the Jemaah Islamiyah regional militant group, which was responsible for the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people, and a string of other attacks in Indonesia since 2000.

He has defended three Bali bombers who were executed by firing squad in 2008, saying that they acted in good faith to defend Islam, even though he said they were wrong to indiscriminately target civilians.

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