Age proved to be no barrier for the harsh drug laws of South east Asia earlier this year as Japanese grandfather Masaru Kawada found himself staring down the barrel of a life sentence in an Indonesian jail. The 73 year old man was sentenced to life in prison by the Indonesian judicial system just last month. Masaru claimed that he had not intentionally smuggled methamphetamine into the restrictive country but in fact had been tricked into carrying someone elses bag which contained over 5 pounds of meth. Although the chief prosecutor in the case had suggested a light sentence of 16 years, the three-judge panel that convicted the grandfather of two wanted to make an example out of the elderly man who they claimed had weakened Indonesias fight against drugs. Kawadas lawyer argued that the elderly man had been deceived into becoming an unwitting drug mule and said that he would be appealing the verdict in the future.
David O'Donoghue is a student and freelance writer from Co. Kerry, Ireland. His writing has appeared in the Irish Independent, Film Ireland, Ultraculture.com, Listverse and he is the former Political Editor for Campus.ie. He also writes short fiction and poetry which can be found at his blog/spellbook davidjodonoghue.tumblr.com
