Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian and Australian governments are mulling a convicted prisoners` swap under which Indonesia would release two Australians currently serving jail sentences for smuggling drugs, namely Schapelle Corby and Ranae Lawrence, an Attorney General`s Office (AGO) spokesman said.

The AGO`s spokesman, Babul Khoir Harahap, said here Tuesday the idea was discussed by the secretary to the Australian Attorney General, Roger Wilkins, and Indonesian Attorney General Basrief Arief at a meeting here Tuesday.

Also present at the meeting was Indonesian Deputy Attorney General Darmono and Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes M. Amari.

Babul said the Indonesian and Australian officials discussed the idea of signing a bilateral agreement to exchange prisoners.

"There are now 12,000 Indonesian prisoners in Australia. They were sentenced to jail terms of up to five years. The Australian government asked for the release of among others Schapelle Corby," he said.

Responding to the request, he added, the Attorney General would further discuss the idea with the Law and Human Rights Ministry.

Schapelle Leigh Corby and Renae Lawrence who were sentenced to 20 years in prison had obtained a remission of one and a half month on the occasion of Christmas last year,
"Corby and Renae were recommended to get sentence reduction because they had fulfilled all the requirements," Siswanto, the Head of Kerobokan Jail, said in Denpasar Tuesday.

Siswanto said both Corby and Renae, who were involved in the drugs smuggling to Bali, behaved well and never broke the regulations applied in the jail.

Besides both Australian convicts, there were four foreign prisoners who got remission for Christmas. Nowadays, there were 49 foreign prisoners in Kerobokan Jail, consisting of 30 convicts and 419 detainees, he said. (*)

Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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