August 23
INDONESIA/AUSTRALIA:
10th Aussie faces drug rap death penalty
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 2,000 assorted tablets as well as
syringes, The Associated Press reported.
He's being held on suspicion of distributing drugs, including ecstasy - a
capital offence in Indonesia. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, though,
said Payne's case was not one of trafficking or "a dealer situation".
Also in facing a drug-related nightmare is Adelaide-born model Michelle
Leslie, 24, after laboratory tests positively found the drug ecstasy in 2
tablets carried in her bag outside Bali dance party on Saturday.
Police declared her a suspect and can hold her in custody for up to 90
days for questioning.
Leslie, who models internationally under the name of Michelle Lee, faces a
maximum of 15 years and a minimum of four in jail if convicted of
possession.
Payne and Leslie are the latest in a string of foreigners to caught in an
anti-drugs crackdown in Indonesia.
Already facing a possible death penalty are the Bali nine, the eight
Australian men and one woman accused of trying to smuggle more than 8kgs
of heroin from Bali to Australia in April.
Downer said Australians must heed South-East Asia's tough anti-drug
stance. But he does not believe Australians are being targeted by
Indonesian police.
"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.
Reports said 2,126 assorted pills and four syringes were found.
"If the investigation proves that these really are drugs then they'll
charge him," said Mr Downer.
"It is a broader array of drugs - at least allegedly, we don't know," Mr
Downer said.
Australian consular officials were 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, 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 foreigners.
Leslie has proclaimed her innocence, telling police 2 suspected ecstasy
tablets found in her handbag may have been planted there.
Bali police spokesman Colonel AS Reniban said the model had told
detectives she bought the tablets from a "young man" the day before she
was arrested.
The results of urine tests on Leslie, who had stopped over in Bali after
an assignment in Singapore, were negative for drug use.
Her father Albert Leslie and her partner in Sydney, car dealer Scott
Sutton, arrived in Bali. Her Australian lawyer Ross Hill was flying there
overnight.
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.
(source: AAP)
VIETNAM/AUSTRALIA:
Drug trafficker spared death sentence
Australian heroin trafficker Tran Van Thanh has been spared death by
firing squad after winning a presidential reprieve in Vietnam.
He will now spend the rest of his life in prison.
Tran's death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment after Prime
Minister John Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer made direct
appeals to Vietnam for clemency.
"I pleaded with the Vietnamese government to exercise clemency," Mr Downer
told reporters.
Forty-year-old Tran, originally from Sydney, was sentenced to death in
November last year after he was found guilty of trafficking 682 grams of
heroin.
Vietnam has some of the toughest drug laws in the world and anyone found
in possession of 300 grams or more of heroin can face the death penalty.
Vietnamese president Tran Duc Luong cited humanitarian grounds and the
good relationship between Australia and Vietnam when he announced his
decision this week.
The government will now turn its attention to the cases of 2 other
Australians on death row in Vietnam.
"I have recently written to my Vietnamese counterpart supporting clemency
for an Australian permanent resident," Mr Downer said.
"I will shortly be writing to support clemency for another Australian
recently sentenced to death."
The NSW Council for Civil Liberties website names Nguyen Van Chinh and Mai
Cong Thanh as two Australians facing the death penalty in Vietnam over
drugs charges.
Tran's reprieve was a case of good news on a day when the number of
Australians facing drugs charges overseas continued to grow.
20-year-old Adelaide man Graham Clifford Payne, who was arrested in
Sumatra on the weekend, could face death if convicted on drug distribution
charges.
He was allegedly found in possession of more than 2,000 tablets, including
ecstasy.
He was arrested on the same day as Australian model Michelle Leslie, 24,
who has protested her innocence after police allegedly found two ecstasy
tablets in her bag at a dance party in Bali.
Already facing a possible death penalty in Indonesia are the Bali nine,
the 8 Australian men and 1 woman accused of trying to smuggle more than
8kgs of heroin from Bali to Australia in April.
Mr Downer reminded Australians abroad of the harsh penalties they could
face if convicted on drugs charges in a foreign land.
"All Australians need to understand that when they are overseas they are
subject to the laws of the country they are in and to their judicial
processes," he said.
"A number of recent arrests of Australians on suspicion of drug-related
offences should serve as a strong reminder to all Australians travelling
overseas of the seriousness of such offences."
But the government has pledged to always seek clemency if the worst
happens, and an Australian is sentenced to death.
"An enormous number of countries do have the death penalty and we
obviously always seek clemency in the case of Australians who are
sentenced to death," Mr Downer said.
Tran will now join his 2 accomplices, Australians Tran Van Viet and Pham
Martin, in serving a life term.
The 3 were convicted last November of trafficking heroin in June 2003.
(source: The Age)
