Jakarta, Indonesia
CNN
—
Indonesia’s Ministry of Justice and Human Rights announced on Wednesday that it had paroled Umar Patek, who made the bomb in the 2002 Bali attacks.
Patek, a member of al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, was found guilty of mixing bombs that blew up two nightclubs in Bali in 2012, killing 202 people, including 88 Australians. , was imprisoned for 20 years.
After being released on Wednesday, Patek will have to participate in a “teaching programme” until April 2030, the ministry said in a statement. If violations are discovered in the meantime, his parole will be revoked, the ministry added.
In August, the Indonesian government announced that Patek was eligible for parole after his sentence was reduced, which sparked criticism from the victim’s family. His scheduled release has been postponed after an uproar from Australia.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also criticized the announcement at the time, saying he was planning to raise issues with Indonesia.
Patek, who was convicted of a deadly church bombing in 2000, has served a series of sentences to his prison term as part of remissions regularly given to prisoners to mark Indonesia’s August 17 independence day. A small commutation of sentence was granted.
Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said Thursday it will be a “difficult day” for Australians who have lost loved ones and relatives in the attacks.
“I think today is going to be a very difficult day for many Australians, for all Australians, to hear about the Umar Patek release,” Marrez told ABC Radio. “My thoughts are now especially with the families of those killed and wounded in the Bali bombing.”
Mares added that the Australian government will continue to engage with Indonesian authorities to ensure Patek is under constant surveillance.
Many members of the Jemaah Islamiyah Group, like Patek, trained and fought in Pakistan and Afghanistan in the early 1990s.
Patek eluded investigators investigating the 2002 attack for years until it was arrested in Abbottabad, Pakistan in January 2011. This is the same village where US SEALs shot bin Laden a few months later.
Patek was then extradited to Indonesia, where he was found guilty in 2012.
Three of the Bali bombing masterminds, Imam Samudra, Amroj bin Nurhasim and Ali Gufron, were executed in 2008. Patek was the last defendant to stand trial in Indonesia.
