Indonesians face trial in U.S.

JAKARTA: Eleven Indonesians recently arrested at their rented apartment by police in New Hampshire, the United States, for overstaying their visa will be taken to court on Wednesday (local time), an Indonesian diplomat has said.

I Ngurah Swetja, Indonesian consul general in New York, said on Monday that he had received the information on the date of their trial while visiting them in their cells in New Hampshire and Massachusetts.

The suspects were arrested when local police officers raided an apartment where they had been staying with six other Indonesians. However, the six others escaped arrest as they were at work.

The accused Indonesians entered the United States on different dates and worked at a car repair shop and a recycling factory.

Swetja said the suspects were all in a good shape and had been fasting since the start of Ramadhan on Friday.

The trial will decide whether to deport the Indonesians or not.

Swetja said the Indonesian representative office in New York would continue monitoring the case until the court issued a verdict. -- Antara