Holiday remissions are traditional in Indonesia for some inmates with good behavior, except those on death row or serving life in prison.
The official Antara news agency quoted Patrialis Akbar, minister of the law and human rights, as saying 7,324 prisoners received sentence reductions ranging from 15 days to two months.
Australians Schapelle Leigh Corby and Renae Lawrence, who are serving 20-year terms in Bali, had their sentences slashed by 45 days each, Antara reported.
Corby, who was a former beauty student was convicted in May 2005 of smuggling 4.2 kilograms of marijuana onto the resort island. Now 33, she asked for clemency in March, citing her poor mental state.
Lawrence, also 33, is one of nine Australians found guilty in April 2005 of attempting to smuggle 8.3 kilograms of heroin. Six were sentenced to death and two others were given life imprisonment.
“We indeed proposed the Christmas remissions for both Corby and Lawrence because they have met the precondition,” Siswanto, chief of Kerobokan penitentiary in Bali, told Antara.
Four other foreign inmates there also had their sentence slashed, Siswanto said without elaborating. There among 30 foreign inmates and 19 other foreigners who’ve been detained in Bali.
