Suspected terror leader freed

JAKARTA: Radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the suspected mastermind of the 2002 Bali bombings, has been freed from prison in Indonesia.

The 82yearold left a prison in Bogor, in West Java, yesterday, after the end of his 15year sentence for terror offences.

He was driven from the prison in a van at 5.20am local time, heading home to central Java.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the release was distressing for victims’ families and survivors of the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings.

The bombings killed 202 people, including 88 Australians and three New Zealanders.

Bashir is widely believed to have been the spiritual leader of terror group Jemaah Islamiyah at the time it orchestrated the Bali bombings and a string of other terrorist attacks in Indonesia.

However, his 2004 conviction for being part of the ‘‘evil conspiracy’’ of the Bali bombings was later overturned and no charges in relation to those bombings have stuck. — AAP