Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir has been released after 26 months in an Indonesian jail Wednesday, completing his prison sentence. Ba'asyir's release was greeted by hundreds of supporters outside the prison. He is expected to travel by car to his hometown, a small village outside Solo. The 69-year-old cleric, who was a teacher at an Islamic school in Solo, Indonesia, before his arrest, denies any connections with Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). Ba'asyir has been in jail since shortly after the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings, although he was not convicted of involvement with those attacks until 2005. Prior to that, he was jailed on immigration violations. Ba'asyir was accused of connections with other bombings in Indonesia, but was acquitted because of lack of evidence, CNN reported.
