Patek had declared his allegiance to the Indonesian state, said the government official, who like many people in Indonesia uses only one name.
His prison term had been reduced by a year and 11 months since he was jailed and before Wednesday’s announcement, he was due to be eligible for parole next January, when he would have served two-thirds of his sentence .
A former senior member of Jemaah Islamiyah, the Indonesia-based militant group that was connected to al-Qaeda, was among the latest Bali terrorists captured and given a $1 million ($1.44 million ) in the head during a long manhunt.
He was finally arrested in 2011 by Pakistani authorities in Abbottabad, the same city where US special forces raided a compound four months later and killed Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader and mastermind of the attacks on the September 11.
Nicknamed “Demolition Man” because of his expertise with explosives, Patek was also convicted of his involvement in a series of church bombings in Jakarta on Christmas Eve in 2000 that killed 19 people.
He denied being the main bomb maker and planning the Bali attack, but admitted having a role in building the deadly devices. He was found guilty of murder and bomb-making in a Jakarta court.
In more recent years, counterterrorism officials in Indonesia have seen him as an example of the country’s success in deradicalizing prisoners.
Adhe Bhakti, a researcher at Indonesia’s Center for the Study of Radicalism and Deradicalization, believes Patek poses no threat of re-engaging in extremism.
“I met his deradicalism mentor in prison and he explained to him that Patek now has no problem attending the flag ceremony held on Independence Day, for example,” he said. “He is no longer an intolerant person.”
Officials are examining issues surrounding his release, before he is formally granted parole, including concerns he could be targeted by radical groups angered by his alleged extremism.
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But Patek’s long-awaited release will be difficult for survivors and victims’ relatives to accept.
Laczynski has traveled to Indonesia and met with reformed terrorists, including Ali Imron, who is serving a life sentence for his part in the attack and whose brothers, Ali Ghufron and Amrozi, were executed in 2008 for their involvement .
He said that Patek should not let himself out early, but if he did, he should be controlled.
“They all say that they have reformed and that they have seen the evils of their past, but sometimes you sit back and wonder: ‘Will they wake up one day and do the same thing again’? Laczynski said.