Bali smuggler marks 21st in jail

MATTHEW Norman (left) was 18 when he decided to become a heroin smuggler.Today he turned 21, locked up on death row in Bali, aware that this birthday could be his last.

There was nothing resembling a celebration for the youngest member of the Bali Nine heroin ring. Norman's twin sister Cheryl is in Bali to support him. But because Kerobokan jail does not allow visitors on Mondays, he spent the day alone. There was no cake and no special privileges and he was allowed out of his cell for just one hour.

As far as birthdays go, it's hard to imagine a bleaker scene. Friends say Norman will get to see his sister and mother Robyn Davies tomorrow when they will go to the jail for a small celebration, marking the third birthday he has spent behind bars. "Robyn had hoped to be able to bring a cake and some gifts, just something simple, but it will have to wait until tomorrow," said Ed Trotter, a Pentecostal minister from Australia who regularly visits Norman.

It has been a tough month for the young Australian who was arrested in a Kuta hotel on April 17, 2005, for conspiring to smuggle 8.2kg of heroin from Bali to Australia.

Last month, Bali's Denpasar District Court - which heard Norman's final appeal, lodged together with co-conspirators Si Yi Chen and Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen - recommended the Supreme Court reject it because the trafficking bid was an extraordinarily anti-social act.

While the Supreme Court has the power to reject the lower court's recommendation, the news was a major blow for Norman. "When the recommendation came through from the District Court judges in Denpasar to dismiss his appeal, that was pretty heavy news to take," Mr Trotter said. "That was pretty depressing, but he seems to have bounced back now. All things considered, he's pretty upbeat at the moment."

If the Supreme Court rejects the application, Norman's last hope of escaping the firing squad will be an unprecedented pardon from Indonesia's president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has never granted clemency to a drug offender.

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