RELATIVES of those killed in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings and the governments of the US and Australia reacted with anger yesterday after an Indonesian court sentenced the radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir to 30 months in prison for his role in the atrocity.

Bashir, an Indonesian named in court as the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, a terrorist group with links to al- Qaeda, was cleared of ordering the attack, which killed 202 people, including 26 Britons. But he was found guilty on a lesser charge of taking part in a “sinister conspiracy” that led to the bombing.

The courtroom was packed with about 600 of Bashir’s supporters, who erupted in fury when he was convicted on the one conspiracy charge.

The five judges concluded that he had not been directly involved in planning the Bali attack. They also acquitted him of masterminding a 2003 suicide bombing at Jakarta’s J W Marriott hotel that killed 12 people, and of inciting his followers to launch terror attacks.

However, Bashir, 66, was found to have given his blessing to the bombing. The judges relied on an alleged conversation between Bashir and two of the convicted Bali bombers two months before the attack.

Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, one of the bombers, asked Bashir: “What if friends were to hold an event in Bali?” Bashir allegedly responded: “It’s up to you because you know the situation on the ground.”

Alexander Downer, the Foreign Minister of Australia, said that his Government would urge prosecutors to appeal against the sentence: “We feel very passionate about what happened to our people. The sense of outrage in Australia is still there. Our Ambassador in Jakarta has already raised with officials in Jakarta that the sentence isn’t very long.” Eighty-eight Australians died in the bombing. The United States, which lost seven citizens, also condemned the sentence. “

Given the gravity of the charges on which he was convicted, we’re disappointed at the length of the sentence,” a spokesman at the US Embassy in Jakarta said.

Andrew Speirs, the father of Stephen Speirs, 36, a traveller from Renfrewshire who died in the attack, said: “Whether they jail him for one year or 100 years, it doesn’t bring closure, and it really doesn’t matter because we’ve lost our son and no jail sentence will ever bring him back.”

Bashir, dressed in his traditional white robe and skullcap, called his conviction a “tyranny”. Armed guards escorted the judges from the court.

Analysts attributed the relatively light sentence to the prosecution’s difficulty in presenting a strong case. Several star witnesses backed down during the trial and the conversation that the prosecution relied on to convict Bashir of conspiracy was not formally admitted as evidence.

The defence also successfully blocked Amrozi’s appearance in court. Bashir, who has been in jail since April, was surrounded by cheering supporters after the verdict. He said that he would appeal. “I’m being oppressed by people from abroad and at home,” he declared. “They consider Islamic law to be a shackle and are slaves to immoral behaviour. Allah, open their hearts to destroy them.”

Sidney Jones, an expert on South-East Asian terrorism, said Bashir had every chance of winning an appeal. He said: “The basis of the verdict is very weak and the chance that he will be completely acquitted on appeal is quite high.”

The US and Australia accuse Bashir of actively leading Jemaah Islamiyah, a group which wants a pan-Islamic state and which, they allege, has been responsible for a string of bombings across Indonesia.

Zachary Abuza, a US terrorism analyst, said that Bashir’s supporters would be emboldened by the verdict.

BLAST FALLOUT

The US holds Riduan Isamuddin, thought to be Jemaah Islamiyah’s regional commander

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