Lawyer for jailed Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir today accused Australia of meddling in Indonesian legal affairs for protesting about a possible reduction in his client's sentence. Justice Minister Chris Ellison yesterday said Australia objected to any further reduction of the 30-month jail sentence imposed on the hardline cleric in March for his involvement in a criminal conspiracy that led to the 2002 Bali bombings. "That is really a rude action by Australia. It is a crude attempt at meddling in the sovereignty of the Indonesian legal system," Mohammad Assegaf, one of Bashir's chief lawyers, said. The head of the Indonesian jail where Bashir is being held, Dedi Sutardi, told AFP that the Government accorded two annual sentence reductions to prisoners for good conduct if they have already served at least six months. Under the scheme, Bashir had already had his sentence cut by more than four months to commemorate Indonesia's independence day in August and could have another month taken off to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan in early November, Mr Sutardi said. "I hope that (President) Yudhoyono's Government will stand firm in the face of such interference," Mr Assegaf said.