The sister of a British journalist set to be freed on Friday after being detained in Indonesia has paid tribute to her bravery, describing how she wept with relief at the short sentence.
Documentary-makers Rebecca Prosser, 31, and Neil Bonner, 32, were given two-and-a-half month jail terms on Wednesday after being found guilty of violating immigration laws by trying to make a film in the country without the correct visas.
They have been detained since May, and a lawyer for the pair said they would be released on Friday for time already served unless there was an appeal from prosecutors. Relatives had feared they could be sentenced to up to five years.
“It’s as good news as we could hope for, and it feels like a weight has been lifted off our shoulders,” Rebecca Prosser’s sister, Natalie, said after watching the sentence handed down on the western island of Batam.
“I just burst into tears when the judge gave the sentence. You just never know what will happen, even though you hope for the best, and we thought it could be years. When he said two-and-a-half months, it was overwhelming.”
A short sentence might be considered a better outcome than an acquittal, which prosecutors would be more likely to challenge, Natalie Prosser said. “Our priority as a family is just to get Becky home.”
Prosser said she had visited her sister and Bonner in prison on Sunday and the pair had been extremely anxious about their fate. “It was very difficult, and obviously they are a lot happier now. But they are really tough people,” she said. “Throughout this whole experience I have really seen Becky’s mettle. She is my little sister, but she is so strong and we are so proud of her. But five years hanging over your head, in an Indonesian prison, is terrifying.”
Prosser said the family had had to campaign hard to get assistance from the Foreign Office. British consular staff visited her sister and Bonner just twice in five months.
“They seemed to think it was a run-of-the-mill visa case, but when that happens people are normally just deported immediately. We knew it was something more. It wasn’t routine. And because they are journalists, they are more vulnerable,” she said.
“The FCO would say, ‘We can’t interfere in another legal process’ and we understand that. But how do they know there would be the right process, or that they would be treated well? It has been very frustrating and upsetting.
Prosser paid tribute to her sister’s MP, the former Labour interim leader Harriet Harman, who she said had spoken directly to the UK ambassador in Jakarta to push Rebecca’s case when she was moved from house arrest to a jail on Batam island in early September.
Bonner and Prosser were arrested by the Indonesian navy on 28 May on the island of Batam, where they were shooting a documentary about piracy in the strait of Malacca for the London-based production company Wall to Wall, with funding from National Geographic TV.
Nine local people involved in the documentary were also arrested but released on bail two days later. They face up to two years in prison or significant fines.
A senior Indonesian navy commander, Rear Admiral Taufiqurrahman, told the Jakarta Post the scene the film-makers were shooting in the area “was not accurate and could tarnish the image of the Malacca strait as a crime-prone area”.
Foreign journalists are required to obtain a special visa to report in Indonesia. Recent violations have resulted in journalists being deported immediately or serving short prison terms.
