Abu Bakar Bashir is the mastermind of the Bali discotheque bombing from 2002 that killed 202 people, mostly Australian tourists. The intent of the bombing was clear: target Aussies for their government's efforts in overthrowing the Taliban in 2001 and early 2002.
Bashir was convicted of only one count of criminal conspiracy and acquitted of the more serious charges against him, according to the NYT report linked in the title of this post. His sentence = 30 months in jail, with credit for the 10 months he has of time served. That's 910 days for the deaths of 202 people -- about 110 hours in jail per victim. Although the Times complained that the US would not allow Indonesian authorities access to two al-Qaedans in US custody to bolster the Indonesian government's case, it seems unlikely that such restriction had any effect on the outcome.
As Dr. Shackleford notes on My Pet Jawa, the Indonesians had rounded up more than 150 Muslim terrorists after the Bali bombing, were fighting against extremist pro-Bashir rioting, and have a reputation for leniency with Islamic terrorists.
And the Aussies are very displeased with Indonesia's misplaced leniency.
So much for expecting any useful actions by the Indonesian government.
More here, here and here.
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