Six-month prison term requested for Egyptian

Six-month prison term requested for Egyptian

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Prosecutors asked the South Jakarta District Court Wednesday to
sentence an alleged Egyptian people smuggler to six months in
jail for violating immigration laws here, despite the fact that
the maximum sentence is six years.

Due to lack of legislation on people smuggling, the state
could not charge Mootaz Attia Mohamad Hasan with anything related
to that even though there is allegedly a great deal of evidence
that he was responsible for smuggling hundreds of Middle
Easterners and put them on a boat which sank and killed over 374
of the 418 people on board last year.

The 29-year-old defendant accepted the sentence
recommendation.

"I won't make a defense. I have made a mistake, it's all up to
you, Your Honor," the defendant told the court. He has been in
the immigration quarantine for about 10 months.

Chief prosecutor Tarsono said that Mootaz, or also known as
Abu Quassey, violated Article 53 of Law No. 9/1992 on
immigration, which carries a maximum penalty of six years in
prison and a Rp 30 million fine.

He said that Mootaz, who had been deported from the country
twice, entered and lived in the country illegally because the
Immigration Directorate had put his name on the blacklist.

"Six months jail term is sufficient for overstay charges,"
Tarsono said outside the court.

The boat carrying 418 Middle Easterners, mostly Iraqis, sank
in the Java Sea near Australia's Christmas Island. The boat was
supposed to take its passengers to Australia from Lampung.

Indonesia continues to be a preferred transit point for
boatpeople heading to Australia and the United States due of its
vast territory and relative lack of coastal supervision.

The trial will resume next week.