Australian Barry Hess walked out of Bali’s Kerobokan Prison on 19 December 2007 after serving four months for possessing 14.4 grams of hashish and 2.7 grams of marijuana found at his home in Kuta.[1][2] Denpasar District Court had cleared the 50-year-old of drug trafficking, which can carry the death penalty, and instead found him guilty of being a drug addict who had not reported himself for rehabilitation.[1][2]

Hess, a former Ansett executive and general manager of the collapsed Balinese airline Air Paradise, had been arrested in August after police found the drugs in his Kuta home.[1][2] After his release he was held in a cell near Bali airport while awaiting a decision on whether he would be deported; his lawyer said Hess, who runs a furniture export business and has a local partner, hoped to stay in Indonesia.[1][2]