JAKARTA: An Indonesian court on Borneo island on Wednesday jailed a man for eight months after he grew medicinal marijuana to help ease the pain being suffered by his cancer-stricken wife, who died shortly after his arrest, his lawyer said.
Indonesia has among the strictest drug laws in the world and has been jailing a record number of users and dealers because of what the government says is a drugs emergency facing the country.
The hard-line approach to drugs is broadly popular in the Southeast Asian country, but the story of Fidelis Arie has stirred sympathy and outrage from rights activists.
The Sanggau district court in West Kalimantan province jailed Arie for eight months and fined him 1 billion rupiah ($75,000), his lawyer Marcelina Lin said by telephone from the court. The term was longer than the five months that the prosecution had sought.
According to his lawyer, the court had found that Arie did not have a permit to use marijuana and had supplied it to another person, although he said the judge accepted that he was not a user or a dealer.
Lin said his client, a father of two, had cried on hearing the verdict and was still considering whether to appeal the verdict. He is currently being held in the Sanggau Correctional Institute.
The sister of the convicted man, Yohana, also said the family was still weighing up whether he should appeal.
“Because any decision won’t make his wife come back,” she said in a telephone text message.
Rights groups and legal activists condemned the verdict.
“Fidelis might have committed a crime in planting those marijuana bushes but it was done in an emergency situation,” said Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch.
“He did that planting for his love of his wife. He should not be jailed for loving his wife,” said Harsono.
The Institute for Criminal Justice Reform (ICJR) also called for all charges should be dropped against Arie.
“This case should open the government’s eyes, especially those of the president whose statements about the war on drugs...have resulted in Fidelis becoming one of the victims.”
Indonesian President Joko Widodo recently told law enforcement officers to shoot drug traffickers to deal with the narcotics emergency in the country. Widodo has also been criticized by rights groups and some foreign governments for ordering the executions of convicted drug traffickers. ($1 = 13,330.0000 rupiah)
Indonesia jails man who grew marijuana to treat cancer-stricken wife
Indonesia jails man who grew marijuana to treat cancer-stricken wife
Britain’s PM Starmer faces MPs as pressure grows over Mandelson scandal
- Keir Starmer set to be grilled in parliament about his judgment in appointing Peter Mandelson as US ambassador
- New allegations former envoy passed confidential information to the late US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein
LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer faced growing pressure Wednesday over his appointment of Peter Mandelson as US ambassador, after fresh revelations about the disgraced politician’s close ties to Jeffrey Epstein.
Starmer was set to be grilled in parliament about his judgment in appointing Mandelson, following new allegations that the ex-envoy had passed confidential information to the late US sex offender Epstein nearly two decades ago.
UK police have announced they are now probing the claims, which emerged from email exchanges between the pair that revealed the extent of their warm relations, financial dealings as well as private photos.
Around that time, Epstein was serving an 18-month jail term for soliciting a minor in Florida while Mandelson was a UK government minister.
For decades a pivotal and often divisive figure in British politics, Mandelson has had a chequered career having twice been forced to resign from public office for alleged misconduct.
Starmer sacked him as UK ambassador to the US last September after an earlier Epstein files release showed their ties had lasted longer than previously revealed. He had only been in the post for seven months.
On Tuesday, Mandelson resigned from the upper house of parliament — the unelected House of Lords — after the latest release of Epstein files sparked a renewed furor.
Opposition pressure
The main Conservative opposition will use its parliamentary time Wednesday to try to force the release of papers on his appointment in Washington.
They want MPs to order the publication of all documents related to Mandelson getting the job in February last year.
They want to see details of the vetting procedure — including messages exchanged with senior ministers and key figures in Starmer’s inner circle — amid growing questions about Starmer’s lack of judgment on the issue.
Starmer’s center-left government appeared willing to comply on Wednesday, at least in part. It proposed releasing the documents apart from those “prejudicial to UK national security or international relations.”
London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed on Tuesday it had launched an investigation into 72-year-old Mandelson for misconduct in public office offenses following the latest revelations.
If any charges were brought and he was convicted, he could potentially face imprisonment.
Starmer sacked the former minister and ex-EU trade commissioner as Britain’s top diplomat in the US after an earlier release from the Epstein files detailed his cozy ties with the disgraced American.
‘Let his country down’
The scandal resurfaced after the release by the US Justice Department of the latest batch of documents. They showed Mandelson had forwarded in 2009 an economic briefing to Epstein intended for then-prime minister Gordon Brown.
In another 2010 email the US financier, who died by suicide in prison in 2019, asked Mandelson about the European Union’s bailout of Greece.
The latest release also showed Epstein appeared to have transferred a total of $75,000 in three payments to accounts linked to the British politician between 2003 and 2004.
Mandelson has told the BBC he had no memory of the money transfers and did not know whether the documents were authentic.
He quit his House of Lords position on Tuesday shortly after Starmer said he had “let his country down.”
The UK leader said Tuesday he feared more revelations could come, and has pledged his government would cooperate with any police inquiries into the matter.
The Met police confirmed they had received a referral on the matter from the UK government.
The EU is also investigating whether Mandelson breached any of their rules during his time from 2004-2008 as EU trade commissioner.
