Indonesia considers objection to Bali bomber’s early release

By NINIEK KARMINI
Associated Press

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities are considering an early release for the bombmaker in the 2002 Bali attack that killed 202 people, despite upsetting Australia’s leader who described him as “abhorrent.” Hisyam bin Alizein, 55, is better known under his alias Umar Patek as a leading member of the al Qaida-linked Southeast Asian Islamic radical group Jemaah Islamiyah. Patek received a total of 33 months of sentence reductions. But the proposal for Patek’s release received an objection, though they did not specify who raised it. Patek was found guilty of helping build the massive car bomb used in the deadly 2002 Bali nightclub attacks that killed 202 people — mostly foreign tourists — including 88 Australians, leaving a deep scar in that country.