CANBERRA, Australia, March 3 (UPI) -- Australia on Thursday criticized the short sentence handed to Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir over the Bali bombings, and called on prosecutors to appeal.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he was disappointed with the 30-month sentence handed to Bashir by an Indonesian court Thursday, The Australian reported.
He said the government and the Australian people were concerned that Bashir would be free soon, especially if the 10 months he already spent in jail are deducted from his prison term.
Among the 202 people who died in the October 2002 bombings were 88 Australians.
"He has without any doubt been a spiritual inspiration to Jemaah Islamiyah in Indonesia, and Jemaah Islamiyah is linked up with al-Qaida and other terrorist networks," the report quoted Downer as saying.
"Eighty-eight of our people were killed in the Bali bombing, and it's something we feel very passionately about," he added.
Downer said he had instructed the Australian Embassy in Jakarta to raise the question with the Indonesian authorities and to express Australia's desire for a longer sentence.
