/ 10 September 2000

GIVE BOESAK HOUSE ARREST INSTEAD

THE prisons service wants anti-apartheid cleric Allan Boesak, in jail for fraud, put under house arrest instead. Boesak is preparing an appeal against his conviction after he was jailed for three years in May. He is not eligible for parole until December 2001, but the prisons service argues that further incarceration would serve no useful purpose. Boesak was found guilty last year of stealing R1.3m in donor funds intended to help victims of apartheid. Correctional supervision can range from straight house arrest to a dusk-to-dawn curfew and community service can also limit movement and ban drinking. – Reuters