[A British born academic and an American nurse who visited a separatist rebel base in Indonesia's Aceh province have been jailed for violating their tourist visas. Indonesian prosecutors argued that Lesley McCulloch who works at the University of Tasmania and her American friend Joy Sadler were spies, and their actions threatened national security. They've both been in custody since September and have now been sentenced to more time in jail for the reduced charge of breaching their visa conditions.]

Presenter/Interviewer: Tim Palmer, Indonesia correspondent

Speakers: University of Tasmania academic Lesley McCulloch

Palmer: The British academic Lesley McCulloch and her seriously ill colleague, Joy Sadler, did little to encourage Indonesian authorities to take a lenient approach from the moment they were arrested in Aceh.

From the start, Sadler physically assaulted an army commander. Then the pair won international publicity for their case, highlighting the physical attacks they and other prisoners had suffered. In court, the pair denied all wrong-doing, and Joy Sadler embarked on a month-long hunger strike.

The Indonesian army have charged the women illegally visited rebel areas, carrying sensitive documents and in breach of their entry visas. Even so, five months jail for a visa violation that might normally have seen the offender thrown out of the country, can only be seen as a politically-motivated sentence, according to Lesley McCulloch as she spoke out after the court decision.

McCulloch: "Obviously they want to make an example of us and show foreigners that if you violate your tourist visa, especially in areas like Aceh and other areas of conflict, this is what can happen to you.

"For me, because of the work that I do, on military and police corruption, I always believed that they would probably sentence me to a bit more time because the whole process is being driven by hatred and fear and paranoia of my work and of me.

"And there's been pressure by the military throughout the entire process, in the initial stages, to charge me with some espionage-related charges, and then to sentence me to further jail time."

Palmer: Do you think that hand was involved in your sentencing, right up until the end?

McCulloch: "Absolutely. I know that the judge was under pressure from the military to make me pay for past misdeeds, ie. exposing some of the military and police corruption that has been going on, relating it to the human rights abuses here. So I know that the local military are extremely angry with me."

Palmer: In terms of the legal process overall, do you think you got a fair hearing?

McCulloch: "Well, I made a statement at the end of the trial today where I said I felt like a victim, that first I was beaten by the military, and secondly I was sexually harrassed by police whilst in police custody, and third that I feel I am now the victim of a flawed legal process."

Palmer: Looking back, do you know feel it was probably unwise to go to an area like that carrying maps that showed where military positions might be? Do you now regret carrying that sort of document into that area?

McCulloch: "Documents that they refer to are things that were sent by email that were on my laptop. I wasn't carrying anything in hard copy. There was nothing secret there. The maps that have been made so much of have already been made public.

"Of course I regret having that stuff on me, but at the end of the day, even if I hadn't had the maps and other documents, I think the process and the outcome would have been exactly the same."

Palmer: In your defence, of course, you said you were forced to go to the area which the army obviously took offence to you visiting, forced by members of the Free Aceh Movement, armed. Is that a reasonable way of portraying things?

McCulloch: "That's a reasonable way of portraying things. I don't really want to say any more about that right now because the prosectors have seven days to appeal the sentence."

Palmer: How do you feel about the prospect of now being forced to leave Aceh and probably not return?

McCulloch: "Technically we're not being deported. It's a voluntary deportation when we're released from jail. They seem to think that there won't be any travel ban imposed. It could be that I'll be put on a blacklist so that when I do apply for visas, my applications will be rejected. But I'm not worried about that at all, because I will come back."