There are concerns two foreign women being held in Aceh will be used by Indonesian authorities to set an example to foreigners wanting to meddle in Indonesia's politics.

The trials of American nurse Joy Lee Sadler and British-born Australian-resident Lesley McCulloch have been postponed by another month. The women have been held in a police cell in Aceh's capital, Banda Aceh, since 10 September 2002.

Indonesian authorities say the women have violated their tourist visas and that they were in possession of documents and photos belonging to the Free Aceh separatist movement, but the two women deny the claims.

The coordinator of the US-based Indonesia Human Rights Network, Kurt Biddle, believes academic Lesley McCulloch is seen as a "real prize" because she has been critical of the actions of the Indonesian authorities in Aceh in the international media.

Kurt Biddle told Asia Pacific's Mike Woods Lesley McCulloch is finding the indefinite nature of her detention difficult.

Biddle: She was concerned that she was not going to make it through this detention, depending on how long it goes – and that's part of the problem is there's really no light at the end of the tunnel, they don't even know when their trial is going to start.

Woods: Are you concerned that really we haven't heard much about this case from Australia or from Britain?

Biddle: Well we are concerned. In fact Lesley Mculloch's mother in Scotland has been very disappointed with the actions of the British embassy.

Here in the United States though we have had good word on the service that the embassy has been giving Joy Lee Sadler.

We haven't really heard about it much publicly and the State Department here in the United States says that they cannot make any public comment on their case until she signs a waiver.

In Australia its been an odd situation because Lesley as I understand it owns a home there and she's taught for years there and is a resident there, but the Australian embassy has kind of taken a hands off approach and basically let the British take care of it.

Woods: In light of what's happened recently in Indonesia – in light of the Bali bombings – how do you think this will impact on their case?

Biddle: What makes things a lot more tricky here of course [is that] they were picked up on September 10 [2002], just the day before the September 11, the embassies were closed in Jakarta because of feared threats on the anniversary of September 11.

With the Bali bombings the US has really used this to their advantage. They were trying to get Indonesia to do quite a bit around anti-terrorist activities including putting freezes on banking practices that would allow money to be laundered and they were really pushing for a tighter controls around anti terrorism.

Since the Bali bombing, the US has seen more of what they've wanted from the Indonesian government to crack down on terrorists – but as people who do follow Indonesia this is going to be tricky with high Muslim population and generally an anti-US intervention feeling since it's had so much intervention throughout the years in Indonesian politics.

Woods: Usually what happens to people in this situation is that they are deported from Indonesia. It seems the Indonesian authorities are taking this a step further, why?

Biddle: I think they see a real prize in capturing Lesley Mculloch. She published many articles in the Australian press and in the international press critical of Indonesia's role in Aceh and the military atrocities that were happening there.

I think when they picked up the two woman they weren't taken kindly to them because they probably immediately realised that they weren't tourists. I believe once they found out they had Lesley Mculloch they realised they were going to make a big incident out of this, and in fact they have said that they are going to make an example for other foreigners who want to come and interfere in Indonesian politics.

Woods: So what is the next step for these two women? Obviously, they face a hearing?

Biddle: Whenever the trial ends up being set, they face charges of violating their visas, which carry a penalty of five years and $US 2,800. When this finally comes to trial I think the woman are going to be somewhat happy, but we're trying to see that they just get deported like most people who violate their tourist visas.

Woods: What is the feeling about what may happen to these woman? Is it possible that they will face incarceration?

Biddle: I think people really are fearful that they could end up getting even the maximum here, the embassies have been very cloudy as to what kind of strategies they are pursuing to try to convince the authorities in Indonesia to let the women go or give them a light sentence.