‘Tired’ Indonesian Bali bomber seeks pardon to continue deradicalisation work, but ‘chances are low’

Indonesian Bali bomber Ali Imron says he is “tired”.

Imron has been in prison since 2003, after being found guilty of helping carry out a fatal bomb plot on the Indonesian island of Bali that killed 202 people and wounded a further 200. The attack was orchestrated by Jemaah Islamiah, a hardline Islamist group.

“I don’t want to be released purely for personal reasons,” Imron, 54, told This Week in Asia. “I want to be free so that I can work on deradicalisation programmes across Indonesia. From a personal point of view, I am better off inside where there is no risk to my life.”

Since his arrest, Imron has worked with Indonesia’s counterterrorism unit as a peace ambassador, which has seen him speak at schools and other events outside prison to warn others of the dangers of radical ideology. He has also regularly given interviews from prison to further help deradicalise would-be terrorists, who he said still presented a threat in Indonesia.

“I have to tell people the facts,” he said. “Jemaah Islamiah still exists as an organisation and there is still a potential threat to the public. There is only so much I can do from prison to warn people not to plan any more attacks.”

According to open source data, between 2021 and 2023, some 610 people were arrested for suspected terrorism-related offences in Indonesia, 42 per cent of whom were members of Jemaah Islamiah and 39 per cent of whom were affiliated with Jamaah Ansharut Daulah and other Isis-inspired groups.

However, despite Imron’s track record of speaking out against radical ideology, Judith Jacob, the director of geopolitical risk and security intelligence at risk management company Forward Global, told This Week in Asia that she thought that a presidential pardon would not be