An Indonesian man who grew marijuana to ease the pain of his seriously-ill wife was sentenced to eight months in prison on Wednesday, despite an outcry from right groups and activists. Fidelis Arie Sudewarto was found guilty of growing marijuana without permission by the Sanggau district court in West Kalimantan, even though it acknowledged that he did it to help his wife, who suffers from syringomyelia, a rare disorder which causes a cyst to form within spinal cord.
The case attracted nation-wide attention in Indonesia, where some world's toughest anti-drugs laws are imposed, including capital punishment for traffickers. "We are very disappointed with the verdict because the judges admitted themselves in their consideration that our client is not involved in drug trafficking, he's not a dealer, he's not even a user," Sudewarto's lawyer Marcelina Lin said.