Lawyer says U.S. nurse to be freed

Lawyer says U.S. nurse to be freed

BANDA ACEH: An American nurse jailed for visa violations will
be released on Friday after being detained for four months, one
of her lawyers said.

Joy Lee Sadler, 57, from Iowa, will be freed on Friday
"because her jail term has been served", lawyer Rufriadi Ramli
told AFP.

Sadler, who is ill with HIV-related conditions, ended on
Monday weeks of hunger strike to protest the slow legal process
against her and her companion, British academic Lesly McCullogh.

Ramli, who is also coordinator of the Banda Aceh chapter of
the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute, said his client would most
likely fly to Kuala Lumpur upon her release.

The retired nurse, who has told reporters she is terminally
ill with an HIV-related condition, was sentenced by a court in
Aceh on Dec. 30 to four months in prison for violating her visa.
McCulloch, was jailed for five months for the same offense.

The pair were arrested on Sept. 11 last year after visiting a
separatist rebel camp. The time they spent in detention was
subtracted from their sentences. --AFP