The Islamic cleric who inspired and masterminded the horrific Bali nightclub bombings, Abu Bakar Bashir, has been cleared of all charges by the supposedly “moderate” state of Indonesia: Indonesia overturns terror conviction.

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia overturned a terror conviction Thursday against the militant Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who served 2 1/2 years for conspiracy in the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings that killed more than 200 people.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard said he was upset for the families of the 88 Australian victims but was powerless to help. Australia, along with the United States, publicly accused the aging cleric of being a top leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaida-linked Southeast Asian terror group.

“Of course it is the court system of another country and we can’t change that,” Howard told the Nine Network television. “But it doesn’t stop us feeling upset, and I know there will be a feeling of anger on the part on the parents and loved ones, and I am feeling for them this morning very much.”

Howard noted, however, that those who carried out the bombings and those who were directly responsible for them have been convicted.

Bashir, 69, who was released from prison in June, has long claimed that the government in the world’s most populous Muslim nation succumbed to pressure from the West when it arrested him soon after the Bali attacks.

Bashir’s son, Abdurrahmin, said his father had received word of the verdict.

“Thank God the Supreme Court has finally revealed the final truth,” he said by telephone from Bashir’s hometown on Java island. “He is praying now to say thanks to God that his prayers have been accepted.”