Police keep death cases

AUSTRALIAN Federal Police will retain the ability to help overseas authorities in cases involving death penalty offences, despite four more Australians being sentenced to death in Indonesia, the Federal Government indicated yesterday.

Asked whether the Government would consider any amendments to the law, a spokesman for the Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, said: "That issue was well and truly canvassed at the time of the arrests, when they were facing the death penalty."

The Justice Minister, Chris Ellison, defended the force for its actions in relation to the nine drug traffickers convicted in Bali.

In January the Federal Court confirmed - following an action brought by the father of Scott Rush - that the force had not acted unlawfully by providing information about the nine to Indonesian police, despite the death penalty being a "foreseeable consequence".

The Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act prohibits assisting overseas authorities where the death penalty may be imposed. But it does not cover informal police-to-police assistance.

Six of the nine are now facing the firing squad after Indonesia's Supreme Court imposed the death penalty on Scott Rush, 20, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, 23, Si Yi Chen, 21, and Matthew Norman, 19.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Fri, 8 Sept 2006
Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia -Web)
Website: http://www.smh.com.au