The Sydney Morning Herald, October 10, 2005
Terrorists set for shorter jail terms
By Mark Forbes Herald Correspondent in Jakarta
Hundreds of convicted terrorists in Indonesia appear certain to have their sentences
slashed next month because a review of a controversial remissions policy promised
by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has failed to take place.
Despite assurances to the Prime Minister, John Howard, that a review was under way
and would be quickly finalised, the review team has still not been established.
The Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, flies to Jakarta on Wednesday, where he will
meet Dr Yudhoyono and demand that terrorists, including Abu Bakar Bashir, the
alleged spiritual leader of the Jemaah Islamiah network, will not receive automatic
sentence reductions. Sentence cuts are granted to prisoners considered
well-behaved, to mark national and religious festivals.
Bashir is due to receive a 30-day cut in his 30-month sentence as part of the Muslim
Ramadan festival. In August, Bashir was given a 4½-month sentence cut as part of
independence celebrations.
Authorities believe Jemaah Islamiah figures planned the October 1 Bali suicide
bombings that killed 23 people, and several suspects were recently freed from jail
after their sentences for hiding explosives from the 2002 bombings were reduced.
After talks with Dr Yudhoyono in September, Mr Howard said he had been told a
review of the remissions policy was under way.
Indonesia's Director-General for Legislation, Oka Mahendra, is responsible for
establishing the review. Mr Mahendra could not give the Herald a time frame for
completion. "We are still at the stage of setting up a team to evaluate remission
policies," he said.
He said the team would be made up of ministry personnel and include law experts.
Mr Howard said this month that the Government had received assurance from the
Indonesian authorities "that these automatic remissions wouldn't apply in the future to
people in certain categories".
"It has certainly been put very forcefully to the Indonesian Government that any
remissions, however small, however automatic, however general, given to [Bashir] will
cause very deep and lasting anger in our country."
On Friday, the Indonesian Foreign Minister, Hassan Wirayuda, said changes in the
remissions policy would be made only after the review. Mr Downer will hold talks with
Mr Wirayuda and Dr Yudhoyono after attending Wednesday's commemoration of the
first bombings in Bali, and will pursue the case for banning Jemaah Islamiah.
Mr Wirayuda said Indonesia had to "weigh the benefits of banning an organisation
which doesn't formally exist".
The Indonesian Vice-President, Yusuf Kalla, said yesterday that the Government
could not ban Jemaah Islamiah because it had never recognised it in the first place. "If
we have never recognised the existence of that organisation, how can we disband it?"
the Detikcom online news service quoted him as saying.
Meanwhile, investigators desperate for a breakthrough in the most recent Bali attacks
have dropped thousands of photos of two suspects over a city near where one of the
fugitives narrowly escaped capture.
A helicopter flew over Solo in Central Java province on Saturday, releasing 10,000
photographs of Noordin Mohammed Top and Azahari bin Husin, who are believed to
be key leaders in Jemaah Islamiah.
In the Philippines, more than a thousand soldiers, many trained by the United States,
have started a hunt for two Indonesians, Dulmatin and Umar Patek, suspected of
helping to assemble bombs used in the 2002 Bali bombings. Mr Downer said
Australian soldiers are helping the Philippine Government target terrorist cells.
With AP
Copyright © 2005. The Sydney Morning Herald.
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