Indonesian boy release sought from Australian jail
Indonesian boy release sought from Australian jail
DARWIN, Australia (AFP); Human rights groups demanded Wednesday the release of a 13-year-old Indonesian boy suffering from malaria who has been held in detention for a month over a people-smuggling racket.
"How, really, could a 13-year-old child be responsible for people smuggling? It's unreasonable," said Amnesty International spokeswoman Maya Catsanis.
The National Children's and Youth Law Centre said the situation was a violation of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child.
Nas Kadir, who is thought to have tuberculosis, has been imprisoned in the Dondale juvenile detention center in Darwin since his arrest last month.
Rights groups say the government should be targeting the ringleaders, not young boys, and accuse it of prolonging Kadir's detention when he just wants to go home.
The youngster was arrested on the Ashmore Reef 600 kilometers off the coast of Western Australia on July 29 as a crew member of an Indonesian boat carrying 14 suspected illegal immigrants. He has spent one week in hospital since his arrest.
Amnesty want Human Rights Commissioner Chris Sidoti to get involved because Kadir is so young.
"The Australian government has got to do the right thing in the spirit of human rights," said Catsanis.
Kadir appeared in Darwin Magistrate's Court Tuesday over breaches of the Immigration Act for assisting people suspected of entering Australia illegally and wanted to plead guilty so that he could be released.
However, lawyers for the commonwealth had his case adjourned until Friday while they work out what penalty to apply for. Under the commonwealth government's tough new anti-people smuggling laws, the maximum prison sentence for an adult in his situation is 10 years.
However, Northern Territory law would prevent Kadir from being in custody for more than a year.
The court also has the option of discharging him without a conviction.
National Children's and Youth Law Center director Louis Schetzer said the commonwealth's delays violated the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child.
"The convention provides that matters where children are facing criminal charges be heard promptly and without delay," Schetzer said.
"Detention should be always regarded as the option of the last resort. The young boy has been further detained, he is completely lacking any form of parental or family support, he can't speak English.
"It's clearly a situation where the human rights of this child are being infringed upon."
The arrival in Australia of illegal immigrants by boat has ballooned recently with racketeers peddling a myth that there are plenty of jobs at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
More than 900 illegal immigrants have been seized from 21 boats in Australian waters since December last year.