CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - President Joko Widodo of Indonesia has been too busy during the past three weeks to accept a phone call from the Australian prime minister to plead for the lives of two death-row prisoners, an Indonesian envoy said Thursday. Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters on March 5 that he had requested a telephone conversation with Widodo on the impending executions of Australian heroin traffickers Andrew Chan, 31, and Myuran Sukumaran, 33. Indonesia's ambassador to Australia, Nadjib Riphat Kesoema, on Thursday brushed off suggestions of a diplomatic snub. [continues 118 words]
Australia's Foreign Minister Said Friday That He Will Do Everything Possible to Secure the Return of a 14-Year-Old Boy Arrested For Alleged Marijuana Possession While on a Family Vacation in Indonesia. The boy, who cannot be named as a child criminal suspect under Indonesian law, has been held at Denpasar police headquarters on the tourist island of Bali since he was arrested Tuesday after allegedly buying a small quantity of marijuana from a man on Kuta Beach. His lawyer, Muhammad Rifan, said the boy faces a maximum sentence of six years if convicted of possessing a quarter of an ounce (7 grams) of marijuana, which under Indonesian law is treated the same as heroin or cocaine. [continues 361 words]
Five marijuana enthusiasts were arrested during protest action this weekend but not for smoking what was touted as Australia's biggest joint. Network Against Prohibition (NAP) spokesman Gary Myerhoff was the first to be arrested in chaotic scenes in Darwin's Raintree Park. More than 100 people were gathered in the park to protest against the proposed toughening of Northern Territory drug laws and to listen to reggae music. One man was arrested after puffing from a 90cm cigarette called the community joint, which was rolled with butchers' paper. [continues 239 words]
The lack of drug dealers charged with selling cannabis to children was mind boggling, a Darwin magistrate said today. Magistrate Daynor Trigg made an apparent criticism of police for an unacceptable lack of action against the supply of drugs to children. He told the Darwin Children's Court that 75 per cent of juveniles he dealt with stole when they were under the influence of cannabis or to make money to buy the drug. Yet he had never dealt with anyone charged with supplying cannabis to juveniles. [continues 87 words]
A Darwin man who was caught with the anaesthetic ketamine on the day the Northern Territory parliament outlawed it as a dangerous drug was sentenced today to two years' jail. Ketamine mixed with amphetamine is a relatively new hallucinogenic party drug known as KitKat and Special K. The parliament added ketamine to Schedule Two drugs on December 14 last year - the day police raided Emmanuel Iraklis Hatzigeorgiou's unit in suburban Nightcliff. Hatizigeorgiou, 24, was sentenced in the NT Supreme Court today after pleading guilty to possessing a commercial quantity of ketamine (13.4g) and a trafficable quantity of methylamphetamine (3.4g), or speed. [continues 160 words]
