Lawyer barred from seeing Chaubey

MEDAN: Irham Buana Nasution, the lawyer of Ayodhya Prasad Chaubey, a drug dealer on death row, threatened on Wednesday to file a lawsuit against two government officials for barring him from seeing his client. The two officials in question were the chief of the North Sumatra Prosecutor's Office and the warden of Tanjung Gusta Penitentiary. That was the third time his request had been rejected in the last three weeks.

The rejection is in violation of Law No. 8 under the Criminal Code, which rules that convicts or suspects can make contact with their lawyers at any time. Chaubey, an Indian national is awaiting imminent execution, after his appeal for clemency was rejected by President Megawati. -- JP