Thu, 13 Jul 2000

Iraqi national gets over two months in prison for fake visa

JAKARTA (JP): An Iraqi national sighed a breath of relief on Wednesday when a judge sentenced him to two months and 20 days in prison over the possession of a fake visa.

Based on the verdict read by presiding judge Hoepojo at the Central Jakarta district court, Karim A. Khudyer, 37, would go free on Friday because he has already been detained for two months and 18 days since his April 24 arrest.

When asked to comment on the sentence, the Iraqi, who lost control during last Wednesday's trial session, simply replied: "I accept it."

In the verdict, Judge Hoepojo told the court that Karim has been proven guilty of violating Paragraph b of Article 49 of Law No. 9/1992 on immigration laws for using a fake travel document.

The law actually allows the judges to punish guilty parties with six years in prison plus a fine of up to Rp 30 million.

The light sentence was similar to the demands of prosecutor Fachrur, who read it on the same day.

The prosecutor explained that Karim, after being released on Friday, would be transferred to the Jakarta Immigration Office.

"It's up to the immigration office, whether to deport him or not," Fachrur said.

Khudyer went berserk during last Wednesday's trial session when police and court officials tried to remove him from the court's detention room and return him to the Salemba Penitentiary in Central Jakarta.

"I'll kill you, if you dare come near me," Khudyer screamed to a police officer after breaking two soft-drink bottles and using them to threaten him.

A court official, who tried to contain Khudyer's anger during the previous session, told reporters on Wednesday that the Iraqi, when he was upset, attempted to attack Fachrur while holding a razor in his hand.

"But we managed to pull Fachrur away," the court official, who requested anonymity, said.

Khudyer, he added, kept on screaming, saying that he had actually paid US$300 to Fachrur, who promised to set him free.

"But Fachrur allegedly asked for another US$200, which Khudyer could not pay, since he had no more money," the official said.

When asked by reporters to comment on the matter, Fachrur turned red and immediately swore that he would never do any such thing.

"May my children go through murtad (leave Islam) if I ever did such a thing? I'm innocent. I never took money," Fachrur told reporters.

The Wednesday court hearing revealed that Khudyer was arrested on April 24 along with his two Iraqi friends, Abbas and Haedar F. Kadom, for suspectedly participating in a small brawl in the Mangga Dua Mall area of Jakarta.

"Upon the arrest, Central Jakarta police officers later found out that the defendant was carrying fake documents," Fachrur told the hearing.

During the trial session, witness Edy Yansi Ali from the Jakarta Immigration Office testified that visas issued by the Indonesian Embassies in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur were no longer using the official stamp, beginning Jan. 17 this year.

"Now, the visas use hologram stickers. The defendant's visa, dated March 3 this year, is a stamped one," Edy said, showing Judge Hoepojo a sample of the new shiny visa.

Khudyer explained to the court that he had paid about US$50 to an official at the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, who gave him the visa and told him to go to Jakarta by sea.

"Upon reaching the Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta, I paid another official $150, who stamped this on my passport," he said, pointing to a green-colored stampmark on his passport, bearing the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport logo, which is normally put on foreign visitors' passports arriving at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. (ylt)