Australia will ask Indonesia not to reduce the jail sentence of Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir for his role in instigating the Bali bombings, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday. Bashir, jailed in March for 30 months, will have his sentence cut as prisoners across Indonesia are granted leniency to mark independence day tomorrow, Indonesian media reported at the weekend.
A spokesman for Indonesia's Cipinang prison said yesterday that his office had recommended a remission of two months and 15 days for Bashir to Justice Minister Hamid Awaluddin.
"The formal decision whether our recommendation for Mr. Bashir has been approved will be announced [tomorrow] morning during the Independence Day ceremony here," the spokesman said.
The Australian government, which lost 88 citizens in the October 2002 blasts which killed 202 people, had already expressed disappointment at the length of Bashir's jail term.
"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. "We will get a report back from him in time."
Bashir is accused by some foreign governments of being the spiritual leader of the Southeast Asian extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for the Bali attack and a string of other bombings. Remissions have been proposed for 19 of 24 convicted Bali bombers along with some 53,000 other prisoners who will have their sentences cut as Indonesia celebrates its 60th anniversary, the state Antara news agency said.
Three of the plotters on death row and two others jailed for life are not eligible.
Australia's opposition Labor Party also objected to a cut in Bashir's sentence, comparing his 30 months in jail with the 20 years' imprisonment handed out by an Indonesian court to an Australian woman found guilty of smuggling marijuana into Bali.
"Most Australians would ask why is it that Schapelle Corby gets sentenced to 20 years for importing marijuana, Abu Bakar Bashir gets 30 months for participating in the murder of nearly 100 Australians," foreign affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd said.
"I think the Australian people would want to see this sentence of at least 30 months fully carried out and for there not to be any further reductions in it," he said.
RARE EVENT: While some cultures have a negative view of eclipses, others see them as a chance to show how people can work together, a scientist said Stargazers across a swathe of the world marveled at a dramatic red “Blood Moon” during a rare total lunar eclipse in the early hours of yesterday morning. The celestial spectacle was visible in the Americas and Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as in the westernmost parts of Europe and Africa. The phenomenon happens when the sun, Earth and moon line up, causing our planet to cast a giant shadow across its satellite. But as the Earth’s shadow crept across the moon, it did not entirely blot out its white glow — instead the moon glowed a reddish color. This is because the
Romania’s electoral commission on Saturday excluded a second far-right hopeful, Diana Sosoaca, from May’s presidential election, amid rising tension in the run-up to the May rerun of the poll. Earlier this month, Romania’s Central Electoral Bureau barred Calin Georgescu, an independent who was polling at about 40 percent ahead of the rerun election. Georgescu, a fierce EU and NATO critic, shot to prominence in November last year when he unexpectedly topped a first round of presidential voting. However, Romania’s constitutional court annulled the election after claims of Russian interference and a “massive” social media promotion in his favor. On Saturday, an electoral commission statement
Chinese authorities increased pressure on CK Hutchison Holdings Ltd over its plan to sell its Panama ports stake by sharing a second newspaper commentary attacking the deal. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office on Saturday reposted a commentary originally published in Ta Kung Pao, saying the planned sale of the ports by the Hong Kong company had triggered deep concerns among Chinese people and questioned whether the deal was harming China and aiding evil. “Why were so many important ports transferred to ill-intentioned US forces so easily? What kind of political calculations are hidden in the so-called commercial behavior on the
‘DOWNSIZE’: The Trump administration has initiated sweeping cuts to US government-funded media outlets in a move critics said could undermine the US’ global influence US President Donald Trump’s administration on Saturday began making deep cuts to Voice of America (VOA) and other government-run, pro-democracy programming, with the organization’s director saying all VOA employees have been put on leave. On Friday night, shortly after the US Congress passed its latest funding bill, Trump directed his administration to reduce the functions of several agencies to the minimum required by law. That included the US Agency for Global Media, which houses Voice of America, Radio Free Europe and Asia and Radio Marti, which beams Spanish-language news into Cuba. On Saturday morning, Kari Lake, a former Arizona gubernatorial and US
RSS