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Indonesia Frees Australian from Prison After Yearlong Sentence for Drugs


Australian national William Cabantog, center, leaves Kerobokan prison in Bali, Indonesia, July 25, 2020.
Australian national William Cabantog, center, leaves Kerobokan prison in Bali, Indonesia, July 25, 2020.

Indonesia on Saturday released an Australian man from prison on the tourist island of Bali after he served one year for cocaine possession in a nightclub.

William Cabantog and club manager David van Iersel were arrested in July of last year after a police raid at the Lost City Club in the island’s Canggu neighborhood.

Indonesian police caught Cabantog with 1.12 grams of cocaine in the pocket of his jeans.

Cabantog, 37, was sentenced to 12 months in prison and Van Iersel, 39, to nine months.

During the trial, the two convinced the judges the cocaine was for their own use.

Due to Indonesia’s strict drug laws, convicted drug traffickers are often executed by a firing squad.

More than 150 people are currently on death row, mostly for drug-related crimes. About one-third are foreigners.

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