Bali bombing: Abu Bakar Bashir, 80, granted release from prison

President Joko Widodo uses his authority to release Bashir for humanitarian reasons, over the objections of some of the survivors and families of the victims.

The Indonesian scholar who was the ideological and spiritual leader of the Bali bombers is being granted early release from prison for what have been described as humanitarian reasons.

Eighty-year-old Abu Bakar Bashir was jailed for 15 years for links to the 2002 nightclub bombings, in which more than 200 people were killed.

Bashir’s lawyer said the 80-year-old was the oldest prisoner in Indonesia and suffered from illness, but the release has not been without controversy.

Al Jazeera’s Alexi O’Brien reports.