Ba'asyir taken for medical check

Ba'asyir taken for medical check

Agence France-Presse, Jakarta

Hard-line Muslim cleric Abubakar Ba'asyir, imprisoned for his role in the Bali bombings, briefly left prison for a medical examination following concerns about his health, one of his lawyers said on Monday.

Ba'asyir, 67, was examined at an army hospital after complaining about discomfort in the area around his lower back, Ba'asyir's lawyer Muhammad Assegaf told AFP.

"He went for a medical examination on Friday and returned to jail later on the same day," Assegaf said.

Assegaf added that "there was nothing serious, but that the doctor had found signs of calcification around the base of the spine, Assegaf said.

Hasyim, a close Ba'asyir aide, said his case was being handled by a prison doctor and that it was not yet known whether Ba'asyir would require treatment outside the detention center.

Ba'asyir was sentenced in March to 30 months in prison for his involvement in a criminal conspiracy that led to the October 2002 nightclub bombings which killed 202 people. He was cleared of the more serious charge of planning terrorist attacks.

Last month, officials granted him more than four months remission to mark Independence Day as part of a routine exercise that benefits tens of thousands of inmates annually.

Ba'asyir is believed by many to be the spiritual leader of the Southeast Asian extremist group, Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), which has been blamed by authorities for the Bali bomb attacks and a suicide bombing outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta last September that killed 11 people.