Indonesia urged other countries Friday to respect the 30-month sentence given to Moslem militant cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, who was found guilty Thursday of involvement in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people. Foreign Ministry spokesman Marty Natalegawa said Indonesia is a democratic country and its judicial process should be respected. "Indonesia is a democracy where we have to respect the judicial process," Natalegawa said. "Our position has always been one of full respect of the judicial process, including the matter of sentences." The South Jakarta district court found Ba'asyir, 66, guilty of being involved in the two nightclub bombings in Bali on October 12, 2002, but not guilty of involvement in the 2003 bombing of the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people. Western countries, including the United States, Australia and New Zealand, expressed their disappointment at the lenient sentence. U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington Thursday it was "cause for concern" that Ba'asyir would be freed after just 30 months in prison. "We welcome the conviction of this known terrorist leader," Boucher said, but added: "We're disturbed by the message sent by the relatively brief sentence ... and we think that the possibility the person responsible for these bombings could go free after a sentence of only 30 months is indeed cause for concern." Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said clearly he would have liked to have seen a longer sentence and ordered diplomats in Jakarta to urge Indonesian authorities to appeal the leniency of the sentence. "Eighty-eight of our people were killed in the Bali bombing and it's something we feel very passionately about," the foreign minister said. "And those who were involved, however they were involved, should face justice, and that's the point we will be continuing to make to Indonesia." New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff called the sentence "unfortunate", saying it left many people dissatisfied, and supported calls for an appeal against the leniency of the sentence.
