Bali Four challenge arrests

LAWYERS for some of the Bali Nine are believed to be considering challenging the legality of the arrests because they had already passed through immigration before being arrested by Indonesian police.

Alleged drug "mules" Martin Eric Stephens, Renae Lawrence, Martin Czugaj and Scott Anthony Rush – known as the Airport Four – were arrested in a Bali airport lounge in April.

They were allegedly waiting to board a plane to Australia with 8.3kg of heroin strapped to their bodies.

Alleged ringleader Andrew Chan, 21, was arrested after he boarded a Sydney-bound plane.

All face the death penalty under Indonesia's strict anti-drug laws.

But a source has told News Limited that lawyers are considering testing whether or not they were on Indonesian soil when they were arrested.

"They had gone through customs and immigration. Why didn't the Australian Federal Police step in and say they were ours?" the source said.

"Lawyers are looking at challenging that arrest."

Darwin-based barrister Colin McDonald QC, who is representing at least one of the Bali Nine, declined to discuss the case, or his clients.

He said he did not want the trial to develop into a Schapelle Corby-style public spectacle – which he described as a disgrace.

But Australian National University international law and human rights expert Peter Bailey said there were no grounds to challenge the arrests.

He said the departure lounge was still on Indonesian soil – regardless of immigration processes.

"It doesn't matter whether they have been through immigration or not – they are in Indonesia," he said.

The Bali Nine are accused of trying to smuggle the heroin into Australia.

All the Airport Four face charges of possessing and distributing drugs, and conspiracy in a narcotics crime.

The Nine will be tried in seven separate trials and could face death by firing squad if found guilty.

Trials are scheduled to begin at the Denpasar District Court next month.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org/balinine.html
Pubdate: Sun, 28 August 2005
Source: Sunday Times (Australia)
Copyright: 2005 Times Newspapers Ltd
Contact: http://www.sundaytimes.news.com.au/letters/letters.html
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Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/438

Carrying drugs in Asia 'stupid': PM

Prime Minister John Howard says any Australians carrying drugs into Asia are "stupid" and should not expect any mercy.

Adelaide model Michelle Leslie, 24, is facing charges over possession of ecstasy tablets.

Indonesian police says tests have confirmed two tablets allegedly found in Leslie's handbag at a dance party on Saturday contain ecstasy.

A urine test found no drugs in her system.

The latest Australian to be arrested is 20-year-old Graham Clifford Payne, who is suspected of distributing drugs after he was allegedy found in possession of more than 2,000 tablets and syringes.

Nine other Australians, referred to as the 'Bali nine', are also facing drug charges in Indonesia.

Responding to the latest arrests, Mr Howard said those found guilty of drug charges must accept Indonesian law.

"It's beyond belief that any Australian could be so stupid as to carry drugs into any country in Asia," Mr Howard told Channel Nine.

"They're in another country - I mean if foreigners come to our country and break our laws, our people don't think that we should hand them back from the country from whence they came," he added.

Mr Howard says people who ignore government warnings cannot expect to be saved from other countries' laws.

"The laws in these countries are black and white, they're severe, they're precise, that's been the case for decades," he said.

"We have told Australians, young Australians again and again, don't take drugs out of this country, don't take them into Asian countries."

An Australian lawyer will fly to Bali today to offer help to Leslie.

It is understood Leslie has appointed lawyer Haposan Sihombing, who has represented convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby and a member of the Bali nine, Renae Lawrence.

Leslie's Indonesian lawyer, Mohammad Rifan, says she could be charged under one of two articles of Indonesian law.

"In Indonesia the penalty, like the article 59, is about 15 years with a minimum four years and the other article is 62, has a maximum of five years and no minimum," he said.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org/balinine.html
Pubdate: Wed, 24 August 2005
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia Web)
Email: comments@your.abc.net.au
Copyright: 2005 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Website: http://www.abc.net.au/

Another Australian drug arrest in Indonesia

A 20-year-old teacher has become the 10th Australian who could face a firing squad in Indonesia if convicted on drugs charges.

Graham Clifford Payne of Adelaide was arrested in Medan on Sumatra on Saturday allegedly with more than 2000 tablets, including ecstasy, in his possession, The Associated Press reported.

He is being held on suspicion of distributing drugs, a capital offence in Indonesia.

Also on Saturday, Adelaide-born model Michelle Leslie, 24, was nabbed at a dance party in Bali, allegedly with two ecstasy tablets in her bag.

Tests are under way to determine whether the tablets are illicit drugs.

Leslie, who models internationally under the name of Michelle Lee, faces a maximum of 15 years in jail if convicted, and a minimum of four, the Australian Government said.

Payne and Leslie are the latest in a string of foreigners to be caught in a police crackdown on illegal drugs across Indonesia.

Already facing a possible death penalty in Indonesia are the Bali nine, the eight Australian men and one woman accused of trying to smuggle more than eight kilograms of heroin from Bali to Australia in April.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Australians must take heed of warnings about South-East Asia's tough stance on illegal drugs.

But he does not believe Australians are being targeted by Indonesian police.

"I don't think they are targeting Australians but I do think they are very tough on drugs," he said in Perth."They are very committed to stopping the drug trade."

Indonesia's National Police Chief General Sutanto said he had no sympathy for young Australians caught in Indonesia's war on drugs.

"This is for the sake of both countries," he said. "Both have the same interest in fighting drugs."

Payne, an English-language teacher, was arrested at a rented house in Medan, North Sumatra. Reports said 2126 assorted pills and four syringes were found.

"If the investigation proves that these really are drugs then they'll charge him," said Mr Downer.

Australian authorities had been asked not to identify the drugs the man was allegedly found to have.

"It is a broader array of drugs - at least allegedly, we don't know," Mr Downer said.

Australian consular officials were today preparing to visit Payne, whose parents are already in Indonesia.

"He's not been charged as yet - he's been detained pending what charges would actually be laid," parliamentary secretary for foreign affairs Bruce Bilson told the Seven Network.

In Bali today, Leslie hired Mohammad Rifan, a lawyer who is also defending some of the Bali nine. He is an advocate with a strong record of securing light sentences for foreigners.

Leslie has proclaimed her innocence, telling police two suspected ecstasy tablets found in her handbag may have been planted there.

Bali police spokesman Colonel A.S. Reniban said the model had told detectives she bought the tablets from a "young man" the day before she was arrested.

Leslie was among a group of five people picked up in the early hours of Saturday morning during a police sweep at a Bali dance club - the GWK Cultural Park.

Officers said the results of urine tests on Leslie, who had stopped over in Bali after an assignment in Singapore, were negative for drug use.

Mr Downer said tests on the pink tablets would take one or two days.

"Assuming that those tests prove positive, and they will obviously bring charges against her and in those circumstances, she will be able to put her defence to the court," he told ABC Radio.

While Leslie could face charges punishable by a maximum 15-year jail term, legal experts said such a small amount might attract a jail term of only a few months.

Leslie could still escape a court trial if she secures the services of a top lawyer, the experts said.

In Adelaide, her parents Albert and Violet Leslie were believed to be preparing to fly to Bali.

Leslie's partner in Sydney, car dealer Scott Sutton, has also been contacted.

"They want to keep publicity to a bare minimum in this particular case. They don't want themselves to be out there talking in the media," Mr Downer said.

Leslie, who started full-time modelling at the age of 15 and has been in hot demand for her Eurasian looks, recently became the new face of Antz Pantz underwear.

AAP

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org/balinine.html
Pubdate: Tue, 23 August 2005
Source: Australian Associated Press
Website: http://www.aap.com.au
Copyright: 2005 Australian Associated Press

Minister defends AFP handling of Bali 9 cases

The federal Justice Minister has defended Federal Police (AFP) handling of the cases of nine alleged Australian heroin traffickers in Bali, as prosecutors announce their intention to seek the death penalty for at least one of the accused.

Legal and civil liberty groups say the AFP has been contravening Australian law by helping Indonesian authorities to build a case against the suspects.

It now looks likely that prosecutors will seek the harshest sentence possible for 27-year-old Newcastle woman, Renae Lawrence.

The news came as little surprise to Justice Minister Chris Ellison.

"One thing is very clear: drug trafficking in Indonesia attracts the death penalty," he said.

The prosecutors' intention to seek the death penalty for Lawrence is a sign of what the other eight could also face.

Senator Ellison says he will personally lobby the Indonesian Government against that outcome.

"We will always, as a government, go into bat to save the death penalty being carried out on Australian citizens," he said.

"You can't do anything until charges have been laid.

"But I can assure you that if they face the death penalty, we will go into bat as hard as we can."

Robert Stary, president of the Criminal Defence Lawyers Association, says the Federal Government needs to start lobbying now.

"I think they ought to express their view in a general sense opposing the death penalty, immediately," he said.

"They ought to let that be known to the Indonesian Government."

But Terry O'Gorman from the Council of Civil Liberties says it should never have got to this stage.

He says it is against Australian law for the AFP to assist in cases that carry the death penalty.

"We have had a bipartisan policy in this country that we will not be party to Australians being put to death for alleged criminal offences in other countries," he said.

"In this instance, this policy has been seriously and significantly deviated from."

But Senator Ellison says the AFP has done nothing wrong and can be involved in such cases right up until an accused is charged.

"It's certainly not in breach of Australian law for there to be police to police assistance on a matter which may carry the death penalty," he said.

Mr O'Gorman does not agree.

"With respect to Senator Ellison, they are weasel words," he said.

"The reality is that Australian law says that Australian law enforcers, under the Mutual Assistance Act, are not to provide assistance to a foreign law enforcement agency that could result in a person facing the death penalty."

The AFP's national manager of border and international investigations, Mike Phelan, says the AFP has not broken any Australian laws by assisting Indonesian police with their investigations.

"It's certainly consistent with government policy and with Australian Federal Police guidelines that we have in relation to dealing in transnational crime as where the death penalty may exist," he said.

"We can't pick and choose who we deal with just because of the laws in their countries."

Five people in Australia have been charged in relation to the Bali Nine case.

Mr Phelan says there could be more arrests to come.

"There are still other people that we're looking for in relation to these particular offences," he said.

"Both downstream here in Australia and also upstream in Indonesia, prior to the drugs arriving."

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org/balinine.html
Pubdate: Mon, 22 August 2005
Source: Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Australia Web)
Email: comments@your.abc.net.au
Copyright: 2005 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Website: http://www.abc.net.au/

Bali 9 prepare to face trials

JAKARTA: The Bali Nine have been told they'll face trial within weeks on drug charges that carry the death penalty.

Indonesian police have completed their investigation and their defence lawyers expect evidence files will be handed to Denpasar prosecutors on Monday, clearing the way for a series of trials.

Haposan Sihombing, the lawyer for Wollongong man Martin Stephens, 29, and Newcastle woman Renae Lawrence, 27, broke the news to his clients in Bali's Kerobokan Prison yesterday.

He said the pair, accused of trying to smuggle heroin from Bali to Australia in bags strapped to their legs and stomach, would be tried separately along with two others arrested at Bali airport in April.

"Their cases will be handed to prosecutors on Monday and they will probably be taken out of Kerobokan briefly while that happens," he said.

Mohammad Rifan, lawyer for five of the nine, said the court would in the n ext two weeks set a date for seven trials to begin on charges including possessing and distributing drugs, as well as conspiracy.

The charge of distributing under section 82 of Indonesian laws carries the death penalty by firing squad.

Two of the trials would be for alleged enforcer Andrew Chan and suspected mastermind Myuran Sukumaran, both from Sydney, while three other people arrested at the Melasti Hotelo would be tried together.

Separately Mr Haposan, who also represents Schapelle Corby, said her team had not heard yet whether the court would grant permission for a third trial hearing to allow fresh witnesses in Australia to testify by video link.

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org/balinine.html
Pubdate: Thur, 11 Aug 2005
Source: Northern Territory News (Australia)
Copyright: 2005 Northern Territory News
Contact: ntnmail@ntn.newsltd.com.au
Website: http://ntnews.news.com.au/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/283