2006年VOA标准英语-Australia to Seek Clemency for Citizens on Indo

By Chad Bouchard
Jakarta
07 September 2006

Australian officials are expressing concern over death sentences handed to six of its citizens in Indonesian for drug smuggling¹. Indonesia's use of the death penalty is a cause of concern in Australia, which does not execute criminals.

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		heroin2 trafficking including Scott Rush, 20, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, 23, Si Yi Chen, 21, and Matthew Norman, 19, during their trials in Bali" src="/upimg/allimg/070418/1057390.jpg" width="148" border="0" /> Australians serving prison terms in Indonesia for heroin trafficking including Scott Rush, 20, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, 23, Si Yi Chen, 21, and  Matthew Norman, 19, during their trials in Bali

Australian officials urged clemency³ Thursday for six of its citizens facing the death penalty in Indonesia for drug trafficking.

Indonesia confirmed Wednesday that the Supreme⁴ Court had rejected an appeal by four Australians, instead handing down even harsher sentences.

The four were among nine people convicted last year of trying to smuggle⁵ heroin to Australia.

The two leaders of the trafficking ring have already been sentenced to death, and their sentences upheld.

Two others in the group face life sentences and the ninth member is serving a 20-year sentence.

The Australians now have two legal options. One is a judicial⁶ review, used if there is new evidence or the judge was in error. The second is a direct appeal for clemency to the Indonesian president.

Steven Barraclough, spokesperson for the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, says his country has voiced objections to the use of capital punishment throughout the case and would appeal for clemency.

"The Australian government would support sentences being reduced to custodial⁷ terms if the death penalty still stood at the end of the appeals process and they applied⁸ for clemency," said Barraclough. "So at the right and appropriate time, we would seek presidential clemency."

Tim Lindsey is the director of the Asian Law Center. He says it is also possible to call for a constitutional review to evaluate if capital punishment violates Indonesia's constitution. Such a move could delay the executions for a few years.

But Lindsay says the group's sentences are not particularly harsh or unusual in Indonesia.

"These people are receiving sentences that, whether you like them or not, are in the range," he said.  "And they're not particularly complex cases, the evidence is overwhelming, all the positive aspects of the Indonesian court system and all the negative inefficiencies and blunders of the normal court system are being seen in these cases. There's nothing special or unusual about any aspect of it in my view."

Harsh sentences handed to Australians in Indonesia have in the past caused a public outcry in Australia, which does not administer capital punishment.

Australians also accuse Indonesia of double standards, comparing the death sentences to the jail terms handed down to extremists convicted of bombings in Bali in 2002 and 2005. Eighty-eight Australians died in the 2002 blasts, which killed 202 people, and four were among the 20 who died in the 2005 bombings.

In June, Australia expressed its concern when Indonesia released a radical⁹ Muslim cleric jailed for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings.

On Thursday a court in Bali sentenced two militants¹⁰ for their roles in the 2005 bombings. One was sentenced to 18 years in prison for assembling the bombs and the other to eight years for helping¹¹ the mastermind of the attacks.

1 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

2 heroin   

n.海洛因

参考例句：

• Customs have made their biggest ever seizure of heroin.海关查获了有史以来最大的一批海洛因。
• Heroin has been smuggled out by sea.海洛因已从海上偷运出境。

3 clemency   

n.温和，仁慈，宽厚

参考例句：

• The question of clemency would rest with the King.宽大处理问题，将由国王决定。
• They addressed to the governor a plea for clemency.他们向州长提交了宽刑的申辨书。

4 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

5 smuggle   

vt.私运；vi.走私

参考例句：

• Friends managed to smuggle him secretly out of the country.朋友们想方设法将他秘密送出国了。
• She has managed to smuggle out the antiques without getting caught.她成功将古董走私出境，没有被逮捕。

6 judicial   

adj.司法的，法庭的，审判的，明断的，公正的

参考例句：

• He is a man with a judicial mind.他是个公正的人。
• Tom takes judicial proceedings against his father.汤姆对他的父亲正式提出诉讼。

7 custodial   

adj.监护的，照管的

参考例句：

• The teenagers were convicted of manslaughter and given a two-year custodial sentence. 这些青少年被判过失杀人罪，及二年的监禁（拘留）刑罚。
• This article interrogates the cultural experience of being a non custodial mother. 本文审视一位无监护权的母亲所感受到的文化体验。

8 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

9 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

10 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

11 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。