'I cannot accept it': Bali bomb survivors fume after attacker's term cut

Chusnul Chotimah has suffered 70 percent burns that have left visible scars across her face and body

Almost two decades after the Bali bombings left Thiolina Ferawati Marpaung with permanent eye injuries, news that one of the masterminds could be released early has caused fresh trauma.

Indonesia's latest reduction to Umar Patek's prison sentence -- revealed last week by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and confirmed by AFP -- means the bomber could be released on parole before the island marks the 20th anniversary of the attacks in October.

"It is not that I don't respect other people's rights, but he has hurt the survivors and families with his evil and inhumane acts," Marpaung told AFP by phone from Denpasar, the resort island's biggest city. 

Patek -- a member of an Al Qaeda-affiliated group who was captured in the same Pakistani town where Osama bin Laden was killed -- should be kept locked up, she said.

But Indonesia says Patek is giving up his extremist beliefs after completing a deradicalisation programme.

"He has dutifully undergone a deradicalisation programme and behaves well in the prison," Wibowo said, referring to Indonesia's rehabilitation scheme to make terror convicts abandon extremism and pledge loyalty to the state.

Tied side-by-side to wooden posts on a small prison island, the attackers were executed by firing squad in 2008 after a years-long probe.

Patek was found to have made the bombs used in the assault on Bali, a Hindu island popular with foreign tourists.

Prosecutors only sought a life sentence for the 52-year-old on a charge of premeditated murder because he showed remorse during his 2012 trial.

For survivors of the attack the thought of him leaving prison and living a normal life is difficult to bear.

Australia has also been angered by the news of Patek's sentence reduction.

Albanese said he had nothing but "contempt" and disgust for Patek's actions, saying his early release would only renew distress and trauma for the victims' grieving families. 

The 52-year-old is trying to make peace with what happened to her, despite the news of Patek's potential release before the anniversary of the day that changed her life.

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