Pardon
Nicolaides' lawyers were pressing for a royal pardon, an effort supported by the Australian government. An official at the Thai Embassy in Canberra commented in January 2009 that foreigners convicted under this law usually get pardoned and deported.
Nicolaides received a royal pardon and returned to Melbourne on 21 February 2009.
On his initial release he had been taken to the Australian embassy in Bangkok and given clean clothes prior to the flight home. Minutes before boarding the flight he learned his mother had suffered a stroke two weeks prior and had lost the ability to speak. "I'm angry and frustrated and perplexed at my treatment," Nicolaides said. "I'm tired and exhausted and I've got a mother to go and see who's lost the power of speech." Nicolaides plans to write a book about the ordeal.
Read more about this topic: Harry Nicolaides
Famous quotes containing the word pardon:
“No one has needed favours more than I, and generally, few have been less unwilling to accept them; but in this case, favour to me, would be injustice to the public, and therefore I must beg your pardon for declining it.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“We often pardon those that annoy us, but we cannot pardon those we annoy.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)