Afghan human smuggler jailed in Indonesia

KABUL): An Indonesian court on Tuesday convicted a man of Afghan origin on the charge of human smuggling and sentenced him to six years in prison, a media report said.

Ali Qaseem, a former refugee who has been granted Australian citizenship, was detained in Indonesia last year for attempting to take asylum seekers to the Java coast on their way to Australia.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported Qaseem had denied his complicity in people smuggling. He reportedly argued he had gone to the area in search of missing family members.   

According to ABC, the Pandeglang District Court handed Qaseem the jail term and imposed on him a cash fine of about 500 million rupiah. The convict, a 57-year-old Sydney construction worker, has a week to challenge the verdict.  

PAN Monitor/mud

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