Iranian gets 12 years for drug possession

JAKARTA (JP): An Iranian was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment by the Central Jakarta District Court yesterday for possessing 155 capsules of heroin.

Mehdi Jarari, was found guilty by a panel of judges of violating Article 23 of the 1976 Law on Narcotics, which can carry the death penalty.

Jarari, 28, the garment businessman from Tehran, was also given a Rp 10 million (US$4,043) fine or another two months in jail. Jarari's lawyers immediately said that they would appeal to the High Court.

Presiding judge Abas Soemantri said that Jarari deserved the sentence because, by possessing and trafficking the drug, he could ruin Indonesia's younger generation.

"What he did also hampered Indonesia's effort to eradicate drug trafficking," he said.

But Abas also said that since Jarari showed remorse and was polite during hearings, the panel of judges decided to give him a lighter sentence than what the prosecutor had requested early this month.

Prosecutor Halim Tola had asked the court to jail the defendant 17 years and fine him Rp 20 million (US$8,160) for possessing and trafficking heroin.

Jarari was apprehended in November at a Central Jakarta hotel with the heroin.

He claimed the heroin belonged to a friend of his, whom he called Michael, an Austrian.

Since 1995, Indonesia has convicted five foreigners for involvement in drug-related cases, with sentences ranging from three years to life imprisonment.

The first was for a Dutch woman, who was jailed for trafficking 5,832 Ecstasy pills, and the latest was a Ghanaian, who was found guilty of smuggling 600 grams of heroin.

The government has also deported at least 11 foreigners since 1989 for heroin, cocaine, or marijuana possession. They were all held on arrival at various Indonesian airports. (12)