JAKARTA - Indonesian terror convict Noim Bashir, released from prison last Tuesday after serving a six-year sentence, died of a heart attack on Saturday (Feb 23), just days after walking free.

Mr Noim - a nephew of hard-line cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the alleged mastermind of the 2012 Bali bombings - died at a hospital in Solo, Central Java at 9pm. He was 45 years old.

He was on his way to a friend's wedding when he complained of pain in the chest, and headed to the hospital instead, said Mr Noim's wife, Nunik.

She added that her husband had long suffered from asthma.

She told local media: "When he reached the emergency room, he was no longer conscious."

Ms Nunik said that her husband, in the eyes of his family, was a figure who fought for the rights of the Muslim community. He had, an hour before his death, met Mr Abdul Rohim Bashir, Abu Bakar Bashir's third son.

Mr Noim was sentenced to six years in prison after he was found guilty of involvement in a terror organisation. He was initially set to be released from prison in May, but earned a three-month sentence reduction.

Controversy raged last month when President Joko Widodo considered releasing Abu Bakar Bashir for "humanitarian" reasons because of the 80-year-old's poor health.

He soon backed down on plans to free Abu Bakar Bashir without conditions, stressing that the cleric must pledge allegiance to the nation and to the state ideology, Pancasila, before he can walk free.

Abu Bakar Bashir has thus far refused to do so.