Ba'asyir to serve full jail term, Tommy gets further time cut

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In an abrupt about-face, the government has decided not to grant convicted terrorist and Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir a sentence remission given to inmates in observance of Idul Fitri holiday.

There was no explanation from government officials about why Ba'asyir was excluded from the list of 39,348 inmates who had their prison terms reduced. These inmates included convicted murderer Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, the youngest son of former president Soeharto.

Cipinang Penitentiary, where Ba'asyir is serving his 30-month jail term after being convicted in April of conspiring to plan the 2002 October Bali bombings was unusually declared off-limits to the media during the Idul Fitri holiday on Thursday and Friday. The bombings killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

The announcement, signed by chief warden Dedi Sutardi, was pasted on the penitentiary's front door.

One of Ba'asyir's close aides, Fauzan Al Anshori, confirmed the cleric's exclusion from the roster of those awarded remissions.

"He did not receive a special remission," Fauzan told Antara on Friday after visiting the cleric at his cell.

Minister of Justice and Human Rights Hamid Awaluddin said last week Ba'asyir might have his jail term cut for the second time following four and a-half months of remissions given to him in August, thanks to his good conduct in jail. The minister also said Ba'asyir was entitled to the Idul Fitri remission since the regulations on remissions were still under revision.

Quoting an unnamed source, Antara said the chief warden had proposed a 30-day remission for Ba'asyir.

But an official quoted Hamid as saying that people convicted of acts of terrorism would be exempted from the remission, unless "there is a special consultation with wardens."

Other convicts who could only receive remissions through "a special consultation" with the minister are those jailed for money laundering, illegal logging and drugs trafficking.

Australia called for Indonesia to grant no more remissions to Ba'asyir, following the Bali blasts on Oct. 1, which killed 23 people, including two Australians.

Unlike Ba'asyir, other convicted terrorists, Datuak Rajo Ameh aka H. Muchtar Tanjung and Sudigdoyo bin Maryoto alias Sudik, have their jail terms reduced, along with 1,577 inmates currently incarcerated across Riau province.

Rajo Ameh was sentenced to three years in prison, while Sudigdoyo to six years after the local district court found them guilty for assisting two fugitive Malaysian bomb-makers, Moh. Noordin Top and Azahari bin Husin.

Three other convicted terrorists, Imam Samudra, Amrozi and Ali Ghufron are not eligible for remissions because they had been given death sentences. Those three were recently moved from Bali to Nusakambangan maximum security prison in Central Java.

They will not be executed until their families make a decision about whether to seek the President's clemency.

Meanwhile, Tommy had his term reduced a further one and a-half months.

Tommy is serving a 10-year prison term also in Nusakambangan. Since his conviction in 2002, Tommy has been granted remissions on six occasions, with the total cuts to his jail term amounting to more than 20 months.