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Umar Patek (archive image)
Photo: Ulet Ifansasti/ Getty Images
The Bali bomb maker, who played a leading role in the 2002 nightclub attacks that killed hundreds, may hope for early release.
Umar Patek could be out of prison as early as this month after a string of sentence reductions, said Indonesian Ministry of Legality and Human Rights representative in East Java Zaeroji.
Patek has been serving his sentence in a regional jail since 2012.
The attacks also killed 88 Australian vacationers.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said an early release of Patek would have a devastating impact on the families of the dead.
He announced that he would contact the Indonesian government.
Patek was sentenced to 20 years in prison ten years ago.
The judges ruled that the member of the Islamist group Jemaah Islamiyah constructed explosive devices that killed 202 people in two nightclubs.
Patek was also convicted of deadly church bombings in 2000.
He was on the run for nine years with a $1 million bounty on his head.
In 2011 he was arrested in Abbottabad, Pakistan - the city where al-Qaeda boss Osama Bin Laden was hiding.
Monthly penalties
Patek has received several multi-month penalty waivers that can be regularly granted on August 17, Independence Day, said Zaeroji, who goes by only one name.
He has now served two-thirds of his sentence and is eligible for parole.
The government in Jakarta must now decide on the case.
Reuters initially received no response from the Justice Department when asked for comment.
The suspected mastermind behind the attacks on the holiday island of Bali, Encep Nurjaman, is in the US prison camp at Guantánamo in Cuba.
He has been awaiting trial since 2006.
til/RTR
