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fter a month-long trial, the Batam District Court in the Riau Islands has finally approved a request from the Indonesian government for the extradition of Singaporean Lim Yong Nam, 41, to the US.

Reading out the verdict during the fourth and final hearing of the extradition trial on Wednesday, presiding judge Cahyono said although Indonesia had no extradition agreement with the US, the court considered approving the Indonesian government'€™s request to extradite Lim to the US as necessary, referring to Law No 1/1979 on extradition.

This, he said, was due to the good relationship between the two countries as well as the good service that the US government had provided to Indonesia in sending home Indonesian fugitives, including the '€œEcstasy Queen'€ Zarina Mirafsur, and David Nusa Wijaya, who was involved in the embezzlement of Bank Indonesia'€™s Liquidity Support funds.

'€œ[The court] fully granted the extradition as requested and decided to detain Lim Yong Nam until the extradition is carried out,'€ Cahyono said.

The final hearing of the trial, which should have been held last week, was adjourned twice before Wednesday.

In their consideration, the panel of judges found that the Singaporean High Court'€™s earlier ruling to free Lim from the crime alleged of him by the US did not render the Batam hearing a case of ne bis in idem, or what common law jurisdictions refer to as double jeopardy.

'€œThis court only processed [Lim'€™s] extradition to America, not the main case alleged of Lim Yong Nam by the US [government],'€ he said.

Lim looked emotional upon hearing the court'€™s ruling. After the hearing, officers from the Batam Prosecutor'€™s Office handcuffed him and escorted him to the court'€™s detention facility. He just shook his head when The Jakarta Post asked him for comment.

Lim'€™s lawyer Zevrijn Boy Kanu, meanwhile, said that Lim had to accept the ruling because there was no other legal recourse available.

'€œWe will send a letter to President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo requesting that he annul the ruling,'€ Zevrijn said.

Separately, prosecutor Povrizal said that the ruling would be reported to the Attorney General'€™s Office to be forwarded on to the Minister of Law and Human Rights and the President, who will have the final call on the extradition process.

Singapore'€™s consul in Batam, Gavin Chay, who was present at Lim'€™s previous extradition hearings, did not appear at the court on Wednesday. Only two staff from the consulate were seen there.

Lim was one out of four Singaporeans alleged to have violated the US'€™ embargo on Iran, exporting radio modules from the US, through Singapore, to Iran where the products were used in bomb making.

The other three Singaporeans were Wong Yuh Lan, Lim Kow Seng and Benson Hia Soo Gan. The case became public in October 2011, and since then two of the accused have been extradited by Singapore, but Lim was acquitted. The US, however, was insistent.

Lim was arrested by Batam immigration officers as he arrived from Singapore on board a ferry for a business trip in late 2014. He was subsequently handed over to the local police. In the US, Lim is facing 20 years'€™ imprisonment and a fine of US$1 million.