AP

Paroled Indonesia bombmaker apologizes for 2002 Bali attack

Dec 12, 2022, 2:18 PM | Updated: Dec 13, 2022, 4:47 am

Indonesian militant Umar Patek pauses during his visit at the house of his long-time friend Ali Fau...

Indonesian militant Umar Patek pauses during his visit at the house of his long-time friend Ali Fauzi, a former militant who now runs a de-radicalization program, in Lamongan, East Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. Patek, who was convicted of making the explosives used in the 2002 Bali bombings, apologized to victims' families after his release from prison despite objection from Australia. (AP Photo/Trisnadi)

(AP Photo/Trisnadi)


              Indonesian militant Umar Patek pauses during his visit at the house of his long-time friend Ali Fauzi, a former militant who now runs a de-radicalization program, in Lamongan, East Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. Patek, who was convicted of making the explosives used in the 2002 Bali bombings, apologized to victims' families after his release from prison despite objection from Australia. (AP Photo/Trisnadi)
            
              Indonesian militant Umar Patek pauses during his visit at the house of his long-time friend Ali Fauzi, a former militant who now runs a de-radicalization program, in Lamongan, East Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. Patek, who was convicted of making the explosives used in the 2002 Bali bombings, apologized to victims' families after his release from prison despite objection from Australia. (AP Photo/Trisnadi)
            
              Indonesian militant Umar Patek answers questions from reporters during his visit at the house of his long-time friend Ali Fauzi, a former militant who now runs a de-radicalization program, in Lamongan, East Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. Patek, who was convicted of making the explosives used in the 2002 Bali bombings, apologized to victims' families after his release from prison despite objection from Australia. (AP Photo/Trisnadi)
            
              Indonesian militant Umar Patek responds to questions from reporters during his visit at the house of his long-time friend Ali Fauzi, a former militant who now runs a de-radicalization program, in Lamongan, East Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. Patek, who was convicted of making the explosives used in the 2002 Bali bombings, apologized to victims' families after his release from prison despite objection from Australia. (AP Photo/Trisnadi)
            
              Indonesian militant Umar Patek, right walks with his long-time friend Ali Fauzi, a former militant who now runs a de-radicalization program, in Lamongan, East Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. Patek, who was convicted of making the explosives used in the 2002 Bali bombings, apologized to victims' families after his release from prison despite objection from Australia. (AP Photo/Trisnadi)
            
              Indonesian militant Umar Patek, right, uses his mobile phone to make a video call as his long-time friend Ali Fauzi, a former bomb maker for who now runs a program aimed at de-radicalizing militants, joins during their meeting in Lamongan, East Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. Patek, who was convicted of making the explosives used in the attack that killed over 200 people, was paroled last week after serving about half of his original 20-year prison sentence. (AP Photo/Trisnadi)
            
              Indonesian militant Umar Patek, right, talks with his long time friend Ali Fauzi, a former bomb maker for who now runs a program aimed at de-radicalizing militants, during their meeting in Lamongan, East Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. Patek, convicted of making the explosives used in the attack that killed over 200 people, was paroled last week after serving about half of his original 20-year prison sentence. (AP Photo/Trisnadi)
            
              Indonesian militant Umar Patek uses his mobile phone to make a video call in Lamongan, East Java, Indonesia, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. The Islamic militant convicted of making the explosives used in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed over 200 people was paroled last week after serving about half of his original 20-year prison sentence. (AP Photo/Trisnadi)

TENGGULUN, Indonesia (AP) — An Indonesian militant who was paroled last week after serving about half of his original 20-year prison sentence for making the explosives used in the 2002 Bali bombings on Tuesday apologized to victims’ families.

Hisyam bin Alizein, better known by his nom de guerre Umar Patek, was a leading member of the al-Qaida-linked network Jemaah Islamiyah, which was blamed for the blasts at two nightclubs in Kuta Beach that killed 202 people — mostly foreign tourists — including 88 Australians.

“I apologize not only to the people in Bali in particular, but I also apologize to all Indonesian people,” Patek told reporters while visiting former militant Ali Fauzi, a long-time friend who runs a program aimed at deradicalizing militants in East Java’s Tenggulun village.

“I also sincerely apologize especially to the Australians who also experienced a very great impact from the Bali bombing crime,” Patek said. “I also apologize to the victims and their families both at home and abroad, whatever their nationality, whatever their ethnicity, whatever their religion, I sincerely apologize to all of them.”

Wearing a grey shirt and a Javanese traditional headgear, Patek received a warm welcome from his old friends, some of whom were former convicts who joined the deradicalization program headed by Fauzi.

Indonesian authorities have said Patek was successfully reformed in prison and they will use him to influence other militants to turn away from terrorism. Patek is still being monitored and will have to participate in a mentoring program until his parole ends on April 29, 2030.

News in August of Patek’s impending early release sparked outrage in Australia. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described him as “abhorrent” and said his freedom would cause further distress to Australians who endured the trauma of the bombings. Australia’s objection prompted President Joko Widodo’s administration to delay Patek’s release while Indonesia hosted the Group of 20 summit last month.

Patek left Bali just before the attacks and spent nine years on the run that took him from Indonesia to the Philippines to Pakistan.

In the southern Philippines, officials said he had joined forces with the local extremist group Abu Sayyaf, spending several years training militants and plotting attacks, including against U.S. troops in the country.

He was finally caught in January 2011 in the same Pakistani town where U.S. Navy Seals would kill Osama bin Laden just a few months later. Patek was hiding out in a second-floor room of a house in Abbottabad, a $1 million bounty on his head, when Pakistani security forces, acting on a tip from the CIA, burst in.

He was then extradited to Indonesia. It was there that the kindness of police officers who helped get him medical treatment apparently began to chip away at his convictions about people he had long seen as the enemy.

He expressed remorse at his trial, saying he helped make the bombs but did not know how they would be used. He also issued broad apologies, including to the victims’ families, at that time.

Patek is the son of a goat meat trader. He went to computer school and learned English before being recruited into Jemaah Islamiyah by Dulmatin, a fellow militant who was gunned down by Indonesian police in March 2010.

After his arrest, Patek told interrogators that he learned to make bombs during a 1991-1994 stint in Pakistan, and later in Afghanistan.

Patek said in August he was committed to helping the government with deradicalization programs “so that they can fully understand the dangers of terrorism and the dangers of radicalism.”

Fauzi said he could appreciate pain caused by Patek’s early release, but hopes the victims’ families and Australian friends were “willing to forgive him.”

Fauzi’s brothers Amrozi bin Nurhasyim and Ali Ghufron, who often went by alias Mukhlas, and Ali Imron were also convicted in the attack. Amrozi and Mukhlas, along with a third bomber, Imam Samudra, were executed in 2008. They never expressed remorse, saying the bombings were meant to punish the U.S. and its Western allies for alleged atrocities in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Fauzi found himself on a police wanted list although he was on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi when he received word of the carnage. Fauzi was never charged for the bombings, but he spent months in police detention in Jakarta.

Another bomber, Ali Imron, was spared execution and sentenced to life in prison after showing remorse and divulging the plot to investigators.

The Bali bombing remains JI’s most spectacular attack. Though there have been several others since, but none as deadly. Analysts credit a crackdown that has netted more than 2,500 militants between 2000 and 2021, including the death of several key leaders in police action.

___

Karmini reported from Jakarta, Indonesia.

Copyright © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP

Image: A cargo ship is stuck under the part of the structure of the Francis Scott Key Bridge after ...

Associated Press

Authorities identify 2 bodies recovered at site of Baltimore bridge collapse

A major bridge in Baltimore snapped and collapsed after a container ship rammed into it early Tuesday, and several vehicles fell into the river below.

1 day ago

Photo: Mountaineer Jim Whittaker has died at 95....

Gene Johnson, The Associated Press

Lou Whittaker, among the most famous American mountaineers, has died at age 95

Lou Whittaker, a legendary American mountaineer who helped lead ascents of Mount Everest, K2 and Denali, has died at age 95.

1 day ago

File photo: Former Sen. Joe Lieberman speaks in Washington on Jan. 18, 2024....

Associated Press

Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Democrats’ VP pick in 2000, dead at 82

Former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, who nearly won the vice presidency on the Democratic ticket with Al Gore in 2000, has died.

1 day ago

islamic state attack...

Vanessa Gera, The Associated Press

What we know after the Islamic State group claims responsibility for Moscow massacre

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for an attack on a suburban Moscow concert hall that killed at least 133 people.

5 days ago

Moscow shooting...

The Associated Press

Russia: 60 dead, 145 injured in concert hall raid; Islamic State group claims responsibility

Assailants burst into a concert hall in Moscow on Friday and sprayed the crowd with gunfire, killing over 60 people, injuring more than 100.

7 days ago

Photo: Britain's Kate, Duchess of Cambridge visits 282 (East Ham) Squadron, RAF Air Cadets, Cornwel...

Associated Press

Kate Middleton announces she has cancer, is undergoing chemotherapy

Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, says she is undergoing chemotherapy to treat cancer. She has been out of view since Christmas.

7 days ago

Paroled Indonesia bombmaker apologizes for 2002 Bali attack