Suspected Bali bombing mastermind Abu Bakar Bashir's release from jail, Australian victims still fearful

ABC:

Suspected Bali bombing mastermind Abu Bakar Bashir's release from jail, Australian victims still fearful

Sandra Thompson's son died in the 2002 Bali bombings.(ABC News: Victoria Ellis)

The mother of an Australian man who died in the 2002 Bali bombings says she does not want alleged mastermind Abu Bakar Bashir released from jail and that he should instead serve life sentences for every person that was killed.

Sandra Thompson's 29-year-old son, Clint Thompson, was one of 88 Australians who died in the bombings, when Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah (JI) carried out an attack on the city's nightclubs.

Bashir was JI's spiritual leader and was later sentenced to jail for other terror offences.

"He didn't just kill one person, he killed 202."

Clint Thompson was in Bali for an end-of-season football trip with his beloved Coogee Dolphins team mates when the blast went off at the Sari Club, killing six of them.

There were also explosions at Paddy's Bar and outside the US Consulate.

The attacks, which left 209 others injured, remain the single largest loss of Australian life from an act of terror.

In 2005 Bashir was jailed for conspiracy over the Bali bombings, but his conviction was quashed on appeal.

Then in 2011, he was handed a 15-year jail sentence for his links to militant training camps in Aceh, but after a number of periodic reductions on that term over the years it is now expiring.

'Preaching and inciting hate again'

Ms Thompson said 18 years after the Bali bombings, Bashir remained a danger.

"Well, he'll go straight back to teaching what he taught before," Ms Thompson said.

"He hasn't repented, he hasn't said he's sorry, he still thinks it was the right thing, so why wouldn't he go back and teach young Muslims his hate all over again?"

Melbourne man Jan Laczynski, who was out in Bali on the night of the bombings but went home back to his accommodation early, was also worried about Bashir's release.

Mr Laczynski said Bashir should not have access to a microphone or megaphone.(ABC News: Rudy De Santis)

Mr Laczynski lost five of his friends in the attack and said he feared Bashir was "going to be preaching and inciting this hate again" when he is released.

"I worry that this is going to be the start of future terrorism things happening again, especially knowing how notorious he is," he told the ABC.

Mr Laczynski said he believed the vast majority of Indonesians were good people, but worried "1 per cent" might be influenced by Bashir's teachings.

"He is an evil person, he helped coordinate this evil against Australia and he should not be walking out unwatched."

Australia urges Indonesia to watch Bashir

The Indonesian Government announced this week that Bashir would be released from prison on Friday after completing his jail term.

Abu Bakar Bashir was handed a 15-year jail sentence for his links to militant training camps in Aceh.(Reuters: Darren Whiteside)

In response, the Australian Government has implored Indonesia to keep an eye on Bashir.

Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Australia had always called for those involved to face tough, proportionate and just sentences, but it respected "Indonesia's sovereignty and the independence of its judiciary".

"Our embassy in Jakarta has made clear our concerns that such individuals be prevented from further inciting others to carry out future attacks against innocent civilians," she said in a statement.

Sidney Jones, director of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, said while Bashar might be free, the police were going to be "monitoring every movement he makes".

"I'm sure they are going to be surrounding his house and his school," she said.

"There is no way there is going to be any end to the surveillance any time soon, and also they can use the health protocols of COVID-19 to restrict any kind of mass gathering."

Has Bashir's influence waned?

Some security analysts have warned that his release might lead extremists to try to associate their activities with him, to gain traction and boost their credibility.

But Ms Jones said while she understood why people would be worried about Bashir's release, she thought he no longer held the power he once did.

"I think this is a man who is seen as an elder statesman of the extremist movement, but he isn't in a position to actually influence actions at all."

Ms Jones also said she thought there were other people who were "younger and more charismatic now, and people who are in fact more extreme than he is, who are a bigger danger".

Ms Thompson still fears Bashir will continue to wield influence, but said she wanted to move forward.

"I'm not going to let that hate and terror wreck my memories of Clint," she said.

"Clint was a good man, he was well liked and he wouldn't like me to put anger and hate for all these years into what happened — and I won't, I refuse to."