British woman released from prison in Aceh

British woman released from prison in Aceh

A British woman jailed for visa offenses in Indonesia's rebellious Aceh province was released on Sunday after five months in detention.

British academic Lesley McCulloch was sentenced by a court in Aceh on December 30 to five months in prison for violating her visa terms. She had already been in detention since September 11 and that time was deducted from her jail term.

"Finally, freedom," said a smiling McCullogh as she walked out of the jail in Banda Aceh.

Before she walked out, McCullogh told AFP she was happy her detention was over.

"I will travel overseas to campaign about the situation here and also in Indonesia. I want to use my case as an example to highlight what the Acehnese are facing," she said.

"I think the Indonesian government should reform its military, the law, and the democratic process."

McCullogh said she would fly to Medan in neighboring Northern Sumatra to catch a plane to Kuala Lumpur and then travel on to Bangkok and later to London.

In Bangkok and London, she plans to talk to the press, human rights organizations as well as officials.

McCullogh said she would relate her "experience here and about eyewitnesses to the suffering of the Acehnese people, especially about the interrogation process by the police."

She said she had heard the screams of Acehnese questioned by the police in Tapaktuan, a district town in South Aceh. Her travel companion, American nurse Joy Sadler, was asked by the police there to treat those injured.

Sadler, 57, who has told reporters she was terminally ill with an HIV-related condition, was released last month after being detained for four months.

The two were arrested on September 11 last year after they visited a separatist rebel camp.

Prosecutors said the women took photographs, gathered data and documents and provided medical treatment in a village when they were supposed to be on a tourist trip.

The women had told the court they had no plans to visit the rebel-held area but could not refuse when armed men took them there. -- AFP