The Jakarta Post, Jakarta World Wed, 06/20/2012
As many as three underage Indonesians have been released from detention centers in Albany and Pardelup, West Australia, according to a press release of the Indonesian Foreign Ministry made available on Wednesday.
The release of the three children, previously charged with helping smuggle people into Australia, was announced by Australian general prosecutor Nicola Roxon MP on Tuesday, according to the press release.
“We welcome the release of the children but we hope the Australian government will continue releasing all innocent children,” the ministry’s director for East Asia and Pacific, Dewi S. Wahab, said as quoted in the release.
She added the release of the children was made after the Australian authorities eventually received information confirming their ages.
Australian law enforcers have detained dozens of Indonesian children for allegedly helping to smuggle people into the country. Australian authorities have reportedly placed them with adult detainees after Australian officials claimed that they had met with difficulties in confirming the children’s ages
According to the ministry, there have been 10 Indonesians released from Australian detention centers in 2012.
Most of them left prisons after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono decided to grant a 5-year clemency to Australian drug smuggler Schapelle Corby, who is currently serving her jail term in Kerobokan Penitentiary, in Bali
wo 20 jun 2012 - 17:49