Govt keeping eye on detainee

Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) officials say they are monitoring the detention of New Zealander Robert James McNeice in Indonesia.

Mr McNeice, 43, said he was a coffee researcher from Lincoln University, near Christchurch, when he was arrested in the Indonesian province of Aceh on August 12 last year, at the request of Australian authorities.

He has been detained at Jakarta national police headquarters since.

An Indonesian court declared Mr McNeice eligible for extradition in July, almost 11 months after his arrest.

Mr McNeice allegedly convinced Aussie Home Loans boss John Symond and his nephew James to part with A$170,000 ($212,000) and A$100,000 respectively in late 2003.

At the time Mr McNeice was a part owner of the Jewel.Time store in Sydney, and told the pair he needed to buy watches for his business.

They claimed Mr McNeice said he would get the watches at a Las Vegas trade show - but said the exhibition did not exist.

At the time of his arrest, MFAT said it was up to Indonesia's President to personally approve his extradition, a process that could take many months.

In the meantime, Mr McNeice's supporters said his health had deteriorated, and Indonesia's National Commission on Human Rights has said the 15-month detention without trial was a human rights violation.

"Yes, we've found an alleged rights abuse, because the period of his detention has been longer than that allowed under Indonesian law," the commission's Johny Nelson Simanjuntak told the Jakarta Post.

"Our criminal code rules that detention should not exceed 60 days ... his detention has been much longer than that allowed."

Mr Simanjuntak said he had sought clarification from the Indonesian police over Mr McNeice's ongoing detention, but they had not responded.

According to his spokesman Multatuli, Mr McNeice had been subject to "harsh conditions" in detention.

"Rob sleeps on the floor, and has suffered from a mild case of malaria, dengue fever and ongoing digestive issues from the bacteria-infected facility," Multatuli said.

- NZPA