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Briton freed from Indonesian jailResearcher accused of spying
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) -- A British researcher jailed for five months after being accused of spying in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province was released from prison Sunday. "I'm free. It feels fantastic to be out. It's been a long five months," Lesley Jane McCulloch said, hugging fellow prison inmates as she walked out of her cell. McCulloch, a British citizen who works at Australia's Tasmania University, was arrested in September along with Joy Lee Sadler, a nurse from the U.S. state of Iowa.
The two were initially accused of spying in Aceh, where rebels have waged a 27-year war for independence, but were later convicted of a lesser charge of violating the terms of their tourist visas. Indonesian authorities, fearing outside interference in the long-running conflict, have been sensitive to the presence of foreigners in the province. Sadler was released on January 13 after serving a four-month sentence. "It's been really bad at times but also good for me. I want to use my experience and Joy's to better understand the reforms needed in the Indonesian legal system, the police and the military," she said. Scottish-born McCulloch will fly to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia en route to her family home in Dunoon in Argyll, Scotland. She said she would continue to write about and research Indonesia. 'Passionate'McCulloch's mother in Dunoon said she was relieved at her daughter's release but worried about her plans to return to Aceh. "It's been a terrible five months and now I feel like running down the road and screaming my head off, but I have to wait until I hear her voice," Mattie McCulloch said. "I definitely wish she would not go back," she said. "She's dedicated to it, and she's also quite passionate about the people in that part of the world." Both women staged hunger strikes to protest their detention. Sadler said she was in Aceh for vacation and that she had treated children and the elderly at a refugee camp there. McCulloch has studied the separatist uprising in Aceh for several years, but said she was not conducting any research when she was detained. Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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