T

he family of Hadi Kurniawan, a sailor detained in Perth, Australia, have appealed to the Australian government to release him.

In an email sent to Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, Hadi’s brother Heriyandi called for charges against Hadi to be dropped.

Heriyandi said his brother should also be released because he was only 16 years old.

Ali Akbar Tanjung from the NGO Human Rights Working Group said Australia ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, under which children below the age of 18 could not face a legal process.

“Hadi is still a minor. He was born in 1995 and only graduated junior high a year ago. We ask the court in Australia to reconsider charging Hadi,” Heriyandi wrote Thursday.

Hadi’s ordeal began in early June 2010, when he and 54 asylum seekers from the Middle East departed from Indonesia to Australia by boat.

Ali said the boat was intercepted in Australian waters and that authorities believed Hadi was a people smuggler.

So far, attempts to rescue Hadi have been hindered by lost documents, which could prove he was a minor.

“All documents were lost during floods a year ago in Pekanbaru, Riau, which is Hadi’s hometown,” Ali said.

So far, he said, the Australian government had detained 500 sailors, of whom an estimated 60 to 70 were minors. He said he was disappointed by the lack of support from the
Indonesian embassy in Canberra.

“They succeeded in securing the release of three Indonesian boys from East Nusa Tenggara’s Rote Island. But now the embassy is doing nothing for other minors behind bars,” Ali said.

Last week, a Brisbane court acquitted three Indonesian boys who were arrested for being on a boat carrying asylum seekers. The boys are Ose Lani, 15, Ako Lani, 16, and John Ndollu, 17.

Ray Marcelo, the spokesman of the Australian embassy in Jakarta, said Australian law enforcement authorities investigated all persons suspected of being involved in people smuggling, including minors.

“Minors are almost always sent home,” he said.

Ray said Australia had implemented new processes to determine the age of Indonesian youth suspected to be involved in people smuggling.

“The benefit of the doubt will be given in favor of people thought to be minors and they will be sent home,” he said.

He did not comment on Hadi’s case, saying the embassy could not comment on specific cases of individuals who may have been charged with people smuggling-related offenses. (fem)