British academic imprisoned in Indonesia pledges to join friend on hunger strike

A British academic sentenced yesterday to five months in an Indonesian jail for visa violations has pledged to go on hunger strike in protest.

Lesley McCulloch, who has been held with her American friend, Lee Sadler, since September, described her sentence as a disgrace and said it was politically motivated because she had criticised the Indonesian government.

The two women, who were arrested in the Indonesian province of Aceh for allegedly violating their tourist visas by contacting rebels from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), say they were mistreated by authorities while awaiting trial.

Aceh is a Muslim province on the northern tip of Sumatra island and has been the scene of a long-running conflict between separatist rebels and security forces. A peace deal was signed on 9 December.

Dr McCulloch, 40, from the University of Tasmania in Australia, was jailed for five months and Ms Sadler, 57, for four months after the judge said she was entitled to a shorter sentence because of ill-health. She is HIV-positive, has hepatitis B and has been on hunger strike for more than a month.

Judge Asril Marwan told the Banda Aceh district court that Dr McCulloch could have "threatened national security and the territorial integrity of the Republic of Indonesia". The sentences are backdated to the time of the arrests, so the two women, who could have faced up to five years in jail, will be free early next year.

Dr McCulloch, who denied the charges, said she was going on hunger strike in solidarity with Ms Sadler. "I feel she should have been released today for time served," she said. "They know she's sick after being on hunger strike and that has been exacerbated by her previous illnesses."

She said the two women had been asked to pay a bribe of 25 million rupiahs (£1,750) each to secure a shorter jail term. "I object to the sentence. There is no proof or witnesses that support the decision," she added.

Dr McCulloch said that early on there had been "talk of espionage-related charges". But no evidence could be found, "so it was reduced to a visa violation", she said. "Normally Westerners who have a visa problem are deported, so the fact that they went to such lengths is indicative of the political pressure that was being put on the investigative team to make an example of us."

Yesterday her mother, Mattie McCulloch, said the family were shocked and disappointed by the outcome. "We were hoping that she'd be sent home, with the time they have already been there, and a fine," she said. "My first instinct is to say we'll appeal, but we may be advised just to leave it when it's only going to be another month before she's freed."

Dr McCulloch's Jakarta-based lawyer, Syarisah Murlina, said: "We need to consider whether to take the case to a higher court because Lesley will have to spend the next six weeks in jail. Indonesian law is a slow process and if we take the case to a higher level, we don't know how long she might have to wait."

Dr McCulloch said her ordeal had strengthened her determination to go back to the province and publicise its problems. "The injustice we've suffered here throughout this process is nothing compared to the injustices suffered by the Acehnese every day, so although we're unhappy and we feel as though we're victims, our victim status is not as bad as the Acehnese," she said.