Bali bomber Umar Patek to walk free from jail early

A Bali victim has lashed out at at the decision to give Bali bomber Umar Patek early release “because he was a good boy in jail”.

Anthony Albanese has reacted to the early release of a man who helped assemble bombs that killed more than 200 people in a Bali terrorist attack in 2002.

Umar Patek was sentenced to 20 years behind bars in 2012 for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings.

The bombs he helped build ripped through the Sari Club and Paddy’s Irish Bar in Kuta on October 12 – killing 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Patek was spared the death penalty and a life sentence after co-operating with authorities and apologising to families of the victims.

Indonesian officials said Patek would leave Porong prison this month after he had “behaved very well”.

Umar Patek narrowly avoided a life sentence.

While in prison, Patek’s jail time was reduced by one year and 11 months, meaning he would have been eligible for parole in January 2023, however, he was granted a remission on Wednesday, enabling him to walk free early.

The prime minister told Sunrise DFAT advised him of the decision overnight.

Earlier he told ABC News Breakfast there was little Australia could do to change the sentence.

“His sentence is there [in Indonesia],” Mr Albanese told ABC News Breakfast.

“It’s a decision that has been advised to Australian authorities (and there’s not much we can do except) … continue to make diplomatic representations in Australia’s interest. And we’ll continue to do that across a range of issues relating to security and relating to sentences – including the sentences of Australians who are currently being kept in Indonesia.”

Patek’s jail time was reduced by one year and 11 months, meaning he would have been eligible for parole in January 2023, however, he was granted a remission on Wednesday, enabling him to walk free early.

The prime minister said that the news will “add to the distress that Australians are feeling”.

“Eighty-eight Australians lost their lives in the Bali bombings … including people in my electorate,” he said.

“This will be of concern for the families involved.”

Deputy Liberal Leader Sussan Ley said the prime minister must have a “firm” conversation with his Indonesian counterpart.

“He needs to pick up the phone … to say ‘we’re not happy, we don’t like it and we don’t accept it’,” Ms Ley said on radio 2GB.

Bali bombing survivor Erik de Haart was visibly furious when he spoke to the Sunrise program on Friday morning.

“This guy’s responsible for the death of over 200 people, and he gets released early because he was a good boy in jail? Please,” Mr de Haart.

“Anyone could pretend but at the end of the day he made a weapon that killed 202 people including 88 Australians, and he gets 10 years, is that enough?

“Is that justice for 200 people?

“I don’t care if he’s been de-radicalised or not it could be part of an act, but at the end of the day he made a weapon that killed 200 people and doesn’t deserve to be given a good behaviour release,” de Haart said.

In 2002, a suicide bomber detonated a car bomb at the Sari Club in Kuta, in a terror attack that killed 88 Australians. Picture: AFP

The bombmaker was a member an Indonesian terror network, Jemaah Islamiah, which was linked to al-Qaeda.

At one point, the US had offered a $1 million ($A1.4 million) bounty for Patek’s arrest.

He was the last of the Bali terrorists to be caught. Three of the convicted bombed were executed by firing squad in 2008.

Patek was caught nine years after the Bali bombings, in 2011 in Pakistan. He was found hiding in Abbottabad, the same town where al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed by US special forces.

After his capture he was also conviction for his involved in the bombings of several churches in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, in 2000 that killed 19 people.

The remission of his sentence comes as Indonesia marks 77 years of independence from Dutch rule.

This October will mark the 20th anniversary of the terror attack.

Three explosives were detonated in Bali about 11pm on October 12, 2002. Two suicide bombers detonated bombs at two packed Kuta nightclubs and a smaller explosive went off in front of the US consulate in Denpasar.

The attack is the largest lost of Australian life due to an act of terror, reports the National Museum of Australia.

More than 30 people were arrested for their involvement in the terror attack.

A memorial has been built at the site of the original Paddy’s Bar, where remembrance events are held on the anniversary of the attack.