AUSTRALIAN MAY FACE FIRING SQUAD

AN Australian woman allegedly caught with a small amount of
cannabis has tearfully appeared before an Indonesian court on charges
that carry lengthy jail terms and even death by firing squad.

Prosecutors said Barbara Kathleen Higgs, 43, was arrested in February
with 49.7g of cannabis and two small bags of seeds at Sengiggi beach
on Lombok island, where she part owns a hotel named the Bulan Baru, or
New Moon.

They alleged Ms Higgs, a Western Australian who had lived with her New
Zealand husband in Lombok for five years, had admitted buying the drug
on February 17 from a friend at the Blue Coral disco in Sengiggi for
500,000 rupiah ($A73) and that she had tried to sell some of the stash.

Police claim they uncovered the drugs in a luggage bag when they
raided her home two days later following a tip-off by local residents.

Ms Higgs wore a black-and-gold headscarf and dark glasses when she
arrived at Mataram District Court in Lombok, flanked by armed police.

Inside she had to be coaxed by judges to uncover her
face.

With her husband Melvin sitting beside her, and dressed in black
jacket and slacks, Higgs asked that photographers and cameramen be
cleared from the court.

"I'm sorry, chief judge, but my family is watching. There are lots of
journalists here. Please pity my family," she asked the presiding
Judge Fachrur Rozie in fluent Indonesian.

"I know this is extraordinary, but I ask you to send the journalists
out of the courtroom."

Judge Rozie agreed, but photographers continued to shoot Ms Higgs
through the court's windows, prompting an attendant to cover over the
glass with a green flag.

Ms Higgs shielded her face with a copy of the prosecution
indictment.

Prosecutors charged Ms Higgs with three sections of Indonesia's tough
anti-drugs laws, including Article 82 for trafficking, which carries
the death penalty.

They also charged her with Article 78 for possession, which carries a
10-year jail term, and Article 85 for personal use, which has a
maximum penalty of four years imprisonment.

Prosecutor Raharjo Yusuf Wibisono said Higgs had tried to sell some of
the drug stash "without rights and against the law", meaning a
possible firing squad.

Along with the drugs, police found a makeshift smoking pipe or "bong"
made out of a soft drink can.

Subsequent lab tests for cannabis - regarded as a class one narcotic
in Indonesia just like heroin - had proved positive, Mr Wibisono said.

At one stage Judge Rozie gently chastised Ms Higgs for "improperly"
crossing her legs in court.

He also tried unsuccessfully to get her to appear alone, telling her
"the judge will not be angry" if her husband sat behind her in the
public area.

Defence lawyers said they would not lodge an objection and would go
straight into their defence when the trial resumed on June 1.

Ms Higgs' arrest followed a nationwide drug crackdown in Indonesia
ordered by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.