SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — Australians locked in Thailand’s jails could soon be serving out their sentences in Australia under an agreement set to be finalized next month, a government official said Wednesday.
The agreement, signed last July by foreign affairs officials, also allows Thais in Australia’s prisons to serve out their sentences in Thailand. It has gone nearly a year without taking effect because legislatures in each Australian state and territory had to separately approve it.
New South Wales State Attorney General Bob Debus told state parliament Wednesday that the national agreement was expected to be finalized by July 1.
Australian inmates in Thailand who would be affected by the program include former Sydney residents Jane Dawson McKenzie and Deborah Letitia Spinner, each serving 50-year sentences for drug trafficking, Debus said.
They were arrested with fellow Australian Lyle Doniger at Bangkok’s international airport in March 1996 as they prepared to board a flight to Sydney with 115.4 grams (4 ounces) of heroin.
All three pleaded guilty to drug possession but contested the more serious charge of trafficking.
Doniger was returned to Australia a free man last month after receiving a royal pardon by Thailand’s king after serving just six years in prison. Spinner and McKenzie have not applied for pardons and remain imprisoned in Thailand.
All three have young children in Australia.
