Bali bombing mastermind behind 2002 attack is freed on parole

Bali bombing mastermind who made the explosives that killed more than 200 people and scores of Australians is freed on parole after serving just half his original sentence

•  Islamic militant Hisyam bin Alizein was paroled after serving half his sentence 
•  He was convicted of making the explosives used in the 2002 Bali bombings
•  He was released on Wednesday despite strong objections from Australia

An Islamic militant convicted of making the explosives used in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed over 200 people was paroled Wednesday after serving about half of his original 20-year prison sentence.

He was released despite strong objections by Australia, which lost scores of citizens in the Indonesian attacks.

Hisyam bin Alizein, also known by his alias Umar Patek, was a leading member of the al-Qaida-linked network Jemaah Islamiyah, which was blamed for the blasts at two nightclubs in Kuta Beach.

Patek was found guilty by the West Jakarta District Court of helping build a car bomb that was detonated by another person outside the Sari Club in Kuta on the night of October 12, 2002. 

Moments earlier, a smaller bomb in a backpack was detonated by a suicide bomber in the nearby Paddy’s Pub nightclub. 

The attacks killed 202 people – mostly foreign tourists – including 88 Australians.

Indonesian authorities have said Patek, 55, was successfully reformed in prison and they will use him to influence other militants to turn away from terrorism.

Convicted Muslim militant Umar Patek made the bombs in the 2002 Bali attack

Patek (centre) smiling as he enters the courtroom to attend his trial at a district court in Jakarta in 2012

Patek received a series of sentence reductions, often given to prisoners on major holidays for good behavior, said Rika Aprianti, spokesperson for the Corrections Department at the Justice Ministry. 

Most recently, he was granted a five-month reduction on August 17, Indonesia’s Independence Day.

Authorities will monitor Patek and he will have to participate in a mentoring program until his parole ends on April 29, 2030, Aprianti said.

Patek was escorted from Porong prison in East Java province by the National Police’s counterterrorism squad known as Densus 88 back to his family´s home in Surabaya, the provincial capital, she said.

‘If he makes any violations during his parole period … then he will return to his cell,’ she said.

News in August of his expected early release sparked outrage in Australia.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described Patek as ‘abhorrent’ and said his release would cause further distress to Australians who endured the trauma of thei bombings.

‘His actions were the actions of a terrorist,’ Albanese told Channel 9 at the time. ‘We lost 88 Australian lives in those bombings.’

Police officers inspect the ruins of Sari Nightclub after it was destroyed by a bomb blast in Kuta on October 13, 2002

Patek is escorted by prosecutors and plain-clothed police officers as he leaves the courtroom

Patek served half of a 20-year sentence, upsetting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who described him as ‘abhorrent’

Australia’s objection prompted President Joko Widodo’s administration to delay Patek’s release while Indonesia hosted the Group of 20 summit meeting last month.

Patek left Bali just before the attacks and spent nine years on the run, during which he was considered one of Asia’s most-wanted terrorist suspects.

He expressed remorse at his trial, saying he helped make the bombs but did not know how they would be used. He has issued broad apologies, including to the victims’ families.

Patek said in August he was committed to helping the government with deradicalization programs ‘so that they can fully understand the dangers of terrorism and the dangers of radicalism.’

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation and the third-biggest democracy, has imprisoned hundreds of Islamic militants since the Bali bombings.

In January, East Jakarta District Court sentenced Arif Sunarso, the former military commander of Jemaah Islamiyah, to 15 years for hiding information about the Bali bombings from authorities and harboring other suspects. 

The 2002 bombings killed more than 200 people, including 88 Australians

 Indonesian authorities say the former member of radical Islamic terror group Jemaah Islamiah has been ‘deradicalised’ but Anthony Albanese described him as ‘abhorrent’

News of Patek’s release comes after October’s 20th anniversary of the bombings

Also known as Zulkarnaen, he had eluded capture for 18 years.

Indonesia executed three Islamic militants by firing squad at Nusakambangan prison in 2008 for involvement in the Bali bombings. 

The three, Imam Samudra, Amrozi bin Nurhasyim and his brother, Mukhlas, never expressed remorse, saying the bombings were meant to punish the U.S. and its Western allies for alleged atrocities in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Another bomber, Ali Imron, was spared execution and sentenced to life in prison after showing remorse and divulging the plot to investigators.

The horror of the Bali Bombing 

At about 11pm on 12 October 2002 three bombs were detonated in Bali, two in busy nightspots – the Sari Club and Paddy’s Bar – and one in front of the American consulate.

The explosions killed 202 people, 88 of whom were Australian, and wounded hundreds more.

Carried out by terrorist organisation Jemaah Islamiyah, the attacks represent the single largest loss of Australian life due to an act of terror.

More than 30 people were eventually arrested for their involvement in the attacks.

AUSTRALIA’S RESPONSE 

In the wake of the attacks, the Australian Defence Force immediately mobilised and, just 17 hours after the blast, the first RAAF plane arrived to evacuate injured Australians. In the largest aero-medical evacuation since the Vietnam War, at least 66 badly injured people were flown to Darwin for treatment.

The military then assisted in secondary transfers of people from Darwin to medical centres around the country.

Source: National Museum of Australia

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