By Ahmad Pathoni
Jakarta - In a move likely to provoke outrage in Australia, Indonesia on Wednesday reduced the 30-month sentence handed to Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir for his role in the Bali bombings by more than four months.
The militant cleric was sentenced in March by a Jakarta court for his involvement in a criminal conspiracy that led to the October 2002 bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
He was cleared of more serious charges of planning terrorist attacks.
Dedi Sutardi, head of Cipinang penitentiary where Bashir is being held, said at a press conference to announce remissions marking Indonesia's Independence Day on Wednesday that Bashir had had four months and 15 days cut.
"Abu Bakar Bashir deserves a remission because he is behaving very well. All he does in prison is devote himself to religious service," Sutardi said, adding that he expected Bashir to be free in April 2006.
Bashir was eligible for a two-month reduction as part of the annual remissions given to Indonesian prisoners to mark Independence Day, plus a further two months and 15 days for remissions granted every 10 years, he said.
Prison officials in Bali also announced sentence cuts of an average three months for 19 of 24 militants imprisoned in the resort island for the Bali bombings, the state Antara news agency reported.
Three of the plotters on death row and two others jailed for life are not eligible.
Australia raised concerns about the potential sentence cut for Bashir earlier this week.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Monday that Canberra had been planning to ask Indonesia not to reduce the 66-year-old cleric's sentence.
"We wouldn't want to see his already rather short sentence reduced and our ambassador is taking this matter up with the Indonesians," Downer said.
Asked about Australia's objections, Sutardi said: "We didn't consider that."
"We are not aware of that and we are not subject to influence by other parties," he told reporters.
Bashir is accused by some foreign governments of being the spiritual leader of the south-east Asian extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for the Bali attack and a suicide bombing outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta last September that killed 11 people, as well as other attacks.
About 53 000 other prisoners nationwide will have their sentences cut as Indonesia celebrates its independence.
Canberra expressed disappointment at the initial length of the jail term handed to Bashir. The United States has also criticised Indonesia over the sentence, which it said was too lenient.
Bashir was arrested a week after the Bali bombings and was first put on trial the following year, but the terrorism charges were thrown out. However he was found guilty of immigration offences and jailed.
Police rearrested him in April last year as he left prison after serving the immigration sentence.