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October 22nd, 2011 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
A PROMINENT lawyer has expressed concern for the health of a 14-year-old Australian boy facing a possible custodial sentence in Indonesia after he was arrested in Bali for alleged possession of a small amount of cannabis.
The national president of the Australian Lawyers Alliance and barrister Greg Barns today voiced concern about potential risk to the teenager if he was moved to an adult facility, warning he would have already been significantly traumatised by his ongoing incarceration at police headquarters.
“One would hope that a judge would exercise wisdom and understanding, and do what ought to happen and that is that this young man ought to be allowed to go home to his parents and family,” Mr Barns told AAP.
“He would have been enormously traumatised. He would have served his punishment 10 times over already. It is cruel to impose any further punishment on him.”
The teenager has been behind bars at Bali police headquarters in Denpasar since his arrest on October 4, when he was caught with 3.6 grams of marijuana allegedly bought from a street dealer in Kuta.
It is expected the year-nine student will face trial within weeks on a number of charges, the most serious of which carries a maximum jail term of six years in prison.
His legal team, which has produced medical records and a police report from Australia indicating he has been a regular user of marijuana, remain hopeful the boy avoids a custodial sentence and instead be ordered by the court to undergo rehabilitation.
However, it is possible that the teenager could be moved to an adult prison such as the notorious Kerobokan jail while he awaits the outcome of the trial.
Mr Barns said sending the schoolboy to an adult jail would be “totally counter-productive” for the individual and would not act as a deterrent to others.
“One can only speculate as to the madness of policy makers and law-makers both in Indonesia and Australia who think that dealing with a young person in a punitive way that involves exposing them to great risk of emotional and physical harm simply because they had in their possession a small amount of cannabis,” he said.
The Australian Lawyers Alliance, which represents about 1500 lawyers and other professionals, says the case involving the teenager is an example of ill-conceived policy settings introduced as a result of the global war on drugs.
The group has also campaigned against the incarceration of Indonesian juveniles in Australia, some in adult prisons, after they were caught up in people smuggling operations.
“This case is a symbol of all that is wrong with policy settings,” Mr Barns said.
The comments come after the prosecutors handling the case of the Australian boy yesterday confirmed they had signed off on the summary of evidence provided by police.
While the teenager is yet to be charged, the chief prosecutor in the case, I Gusti Gede Putu Atmaja, said he would be indicted under three articles according to Indonesia’s narcotics laws.
It would then be up to the court as to which charge, or charges, would apply during the trial, Mr Atmaja said.
“Which one to be proved, it depends on what comes in trials as well as consideration that he’s minor,” he said.
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