Bashir could be fully acquitted on appeal says crisis group

CANBERRA - There was a possibility Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir could be acquitted on appeal over his role in the Bali bombings, an international conflict resolution group said today.

Bashir was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail yesterday after a court in Jakarta found him guilty of conspiracy in the Bali bombings that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

"I think it is a token conviction and I think there's a possibility that he will be fully acquitted on appeal," International Crisis Group (ICG) south-East Asia project director Sidney Jones told ABC Radio.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has instructed the Australian embassy in Jakarta to question the sentence with Indonesian officials, who have seven days to appeal.

A sentence of about eight years would have been more appropriate for Bashir, who is seen as the spiritual head of terrorist organisation Jemaah Islamiah (JI), Mr Downer said.

Ms Jones said it is likely Bashir will be out before the end of 2006.

"The maximum that he'll be in prison is 'til the end of next year. My guess is that he'll be out much sooner," she said.

Bashir was found guilty of conspiracy, but cleared of more serious charges over the bombings.

"He'd already pulled back from the day-to-day operations of JI by that stage (of the bombings)," Ms Jones said.

"To think of the leader of an organisation like that going free ... is a real problem, particularly for people outside Indonesia.

"(But) inside Indonesia, he's not seen as somebody who has been directly responsible for acts of violence," she said.

"To this day there are people who don't believe he had anything to do with Jemaah Islamiah and who even don't believe Jemaah Islamiah exists."

This may have influenced the sentence by the Indonesian courts, she said.

- AAP