THAI TREATY HOPE IN HEROIN CASES

A PLANNED prisoner transfer treaty between Australia and Thailand offers
hope for Perth junkie Amanda Deane-Johns and Sydney fugitive Robert
Halliwell.

The pair are in Thai jails awaiting trial on heroin trafficking charges.

The treaty would allow them to serve their sentences in Australian prisons
if convicted of the offences, which can carry the death penalty. Sentences
are usually commuted to life imprisonment for Westerners.

Negotiations that would pave the way for the signing of the treaty were
stalled by the Northern Territory's refusal to be part of it when Thailand
insisted that a treaty should apply to all of Australia.

That position was changed recently when the Territory indicated support for
a treaty, putting in train steps that could lead to signing an agreement
possibly by the end of the year.

Ms Deane-Johns, 29, is accused of posting 15g of heroin to Australia.
Another 15g were found in her home.

Mr Halliwell, 55, is accused of having 110g at his home.

They were pictured barefooted and handcuffed and chained together when they
appeared at South Bangkok Criminal Court on Monday.

They were removed from the narcotics detention centre near Bangkok
International Airport and sent to separate men's and women's prisons in the
city to await trial. Hygiene is poor and the jails are cramped, with several
people in a cell sleeping on stone floors with lights switched on for 24
hours.

Ms Deane-Johns said she was confident she would not be executed if convicted
but admitted she faced an uncertain future.

But she blamed no one.

The only hope for the pair, if convicted, is a royal pardon from Thai King
Bhumibol but an application usually takes up to 2 1/2,* years before
reaching the king's staff.

Prison conditions are so brutal by Australian standards that Canberra
diplomacy always supports applications for pardons on humanitarian grounds.

Requests for pardons are made by individual prisoners and their lawyers.

The Australian Embassy in Thailand was unable to confirm reports that Ms
Deane-Johns father, Damian, was on his way to Bangkok to arrange a lawyer
for her.

Ms Deane-Johns favours Thai lawyer Khun Putri whom she claims has quoted two
fees - $5000 for a guilty plea and $25,000 for not guilty.

Her father has sent her money which the Australian Embassy is holding and
releasing to her as and when required.

The embassy is aware of Mr Halliwell's diabetes and has arranged treatment
for him which Thai guards are delivering in prison.

Mr Halliwell, who went to Thailand in 1976 on the run from heroin charges in
Sydney, fears he might contract gangrene because of his living conditions
and infrequent medication.

The prisoner exchange treaty between Thailand and Australia is the result of
seven years of negotiation and will involve arrangements similar to those
Thailand has with more than a dozen countries.

But it will not see all the Australians serving sentences in Thailand, some
up to 50 years, leave Thai jails.

Under the agreement, prisoners must have served four years or a third of
their sentence, whichever is greater.

And in many cases, transferred prisoners still have to serve out their
sentence.