December 4, 2011,
DENPASAR, Indonesia (AFP) - Indonesia on Sunday released a 14-year-old Australian boy convicted of drug possession on the resort island of Bali after two months in detention.
A high school student from a coastal area north of Sydney, the teen has been the focus of intense negotiations involving Canberra's Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd and other Australian officials lobbying for his release.
The boy admitted to carrying 6.9 grams (quarter of an ounce) of marijuana when he was arrested on October 4 in the tourist area of Kuta, where he was on holiday with his parents.
"Earlier, the process of taking fingerprints... processing release documentation, taking photographs was completed," Bali's Kerobokan prison chief Siswanto told reporters.
"He is now free and we have released him," he said, adding he had told the boy not to repeat his actions.
A district court on November 25 handed the teenager a two-month jail sentence for marijuana possession, deducting the eight weeks he had already spent in detention.
The boy had been held at an immigration detention centre in Jimbaran but made a brief stop at Kerobokan prison Sunday to get his fingerprints taken and paperwork finalised before he is handed to immigration authorities at Denpasar airport for deportation.
The boy, who wore a white shirt and a balaclava to hide his identity, was accompanied by his father. They did not speak to reporters as they left the prison with immigration officials.
Prosecutor I Gusti Putu Gede Atmaja said he was in "fine condition".
"He was glad that he was treated very well during detention," he said.
The boy is expected to fly home to Australia but the timing remains unclear, his lawyer Muhammad Rifan told reporters.
He would return home after he had been processed by immigration officials and will be banned for six months from entering Indonesia, the lawyer added.
"Flight tickets have been obtained but I haven't received confirmation from his parents if he will return home today, tonight or tomorrow," Rifan said.
"He must be very happy to see his parents and friends again," he added.
Prosecutors had sought a three-month jail term for the boy under a drug possession charge that carries a maximum of two years' imprisonment for minors, saying that the boy was young and likely to change his ways.
The defence had tried to have him acquitted, arguing he should undergo rehabilitation instead.
Their case centred on evidence provided by an Australian doctor and New South Wales state police, as well as testimony from a local psychiatrist who had assessed the boy since his detention.
Several Australians have been arrested for drug possession on Bali in recent years, including two traffickers on death row and six serving life sentences in Kerobokan prison.
zo 4 dec 2011 - 6:54