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| Down Under |
| Aussie PM won't appeal on behalf of jailed drug smuggler |
| 2005-05-30 |
| SYDNEY - Australia's prime minister on Monday ruled out making a personal appeal to Indonesia's president to intervene in the case of an Australian woman convicted of smuggling drugs into Bali. The 20-year sentence for marijuana smuggling handed last Friday to Schapelle Corby by a court on the Indonesian island sparked outrage in Australia, where opinion polls show the vast majority of people believe the 27-year-old's tearful claims of innocence. "Emotional though people feel about this, we are dealing with the judicial system of another country," Prime Minister John Howard told Sydney radio station 2GB. "It would be an impossibly stupid, counterproductive thing, to ring up the president of Indonesia ... asking him to superimpose his judgment." After saying last Friday they would appeal the conviction and sentence, Corby's legal team said Monday it is still considering its options. "We're having a lot of discussions about how we're going to proceed on that," Corby's lawyer Robin Tampoe told Australian television's Nine Network. "It's possible she could end up with life after an appeal and - worst case scenario - they could impose a death sentence. So we're being very careful," he added. Prosecutors who had demanded a life sentence for Corby already have said they will appeal the sentence as too lenient. Some Corby supporters have called for tourists to boycott Bali to protest her plight, but politicians who have worked hard in recent years to strengthen Australia's relationship with Indonesia are rejecting the criticism of its northern neighbor. "Continuing to berate and denigrate Indonesia isn't going to help anybody in this case," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. Australian diplomats are soon to begin formal negotiations to set up a prisoner transfer agreement that would allow Corby and other Australians serving time in Indonesian prisons to finish their sentences in Australia. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #8 $8K a kilo? Jeebus ...don't let Humboldt hear about that |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-05-30 21:14 |
| #7 Explains a lot |
| Posted by: john 2005-05-30 21:10 |
| #6 Bali is full of undercover cops so tourist as scared to buy drugs from the locals. As well as that the local marijuana is a very poor grade. Whereas Australian marijuana is considered to being of very high quailty. In Australian dollars, you can buy it for around $8000 a kilogram in Australia and sell it in Bali for $20,000 a kilogram if its split in deals. Read more on the economics of it http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2005/05/25/1116950758434.html?from=top5 |
| Posted by: bernardz 2005-05-30 17:47 |
| #5 You get caught at an airport in any country in the world with a large quantity of drugs in your bags and you're going to jail (or the gallows depending on the country). I've read that she resisted attempts to search her bag. Traffickers do use sacrificial drug mules as diversions (setup a few to take the fall while the bulk of the drugs get through). The caught drug mules are still guilty though. |
| Posted by: john 2005-05-30 12:43 |
| #4 "It just doesn't make sense to smuggle from a place where something is worth a lot to where it is worth much less" I agree. But while a newby ditz might try something like that, an organized band of professional narcotrafficers... say baggage handlers...is much less likely to. |
| Posted by: Dave 2005-05-30 04:36 |
| #3 CyberSarge, the equivalent would be an American trying to smuggle a couple of kilos of cocaine from LA to Colombia. It just doesn't make sense to smuggle from a place where something is worth a lot to where it is worth much less, perhaps only 10% of what it is worth in Australia. Corby was caught up in a system that doesn't give a defendant the benefit the doubt. The only way out for her was to produce someone who was prepared to say I did it. I am in favour of a boycott. Australia gives Indonesia a pass on too many things. Its time they learned actions have consequences. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2005-05-30 02:24 |
| #2 I am sceptical of this young womans story, but I am with respect to drug crimes. I ave worked with DEA and all the criminals have the same story: "it weren't me." Now if the drugs had been found in an elderly couples bags or say a priests then I would tend to beleive their story. And of course nobody likes to see a beitiful girl go to jail for 20 years but have they found any baggage handlers planting stuff in other bags? Did Miss Corby volunteer for a drug screening? A quick check of her blood or urine would tell she was a user or clear her name. If she had a test and it came back negagtive I would beleive her story more and I bet the Indonisians would as well. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2005-05-30 01:34 |
| #1 Schapelle Corby is innocent She would NEVER have been convicted in an Australian court as there was reasonable doubt. The judges IGNORED every bit of evidence that supported Corby's case. The head judge said she had to prove her innocence - she was presumed guilty and had to prove her innocence which is completely opposite to our justice system where you are assumed innocent. Nobody would take 4kg of pot from Australia where it is expensive to Bali where it is really really cheap. These judges have heard 500 drug smuggling cases. Guess how many they convicted? 500. So even if innocent they don't care. Corby asked for the drugs to be fingerprinted. They weren't. Corby asked for the bags to be weighed. They weren't. Australian baggage handlers were involved in a drug smuggling ring, and had a shipment of cocaine coming in the very airport Corby left on the very day, in the very hour she left. Many think they put the pot in her bag as a diversion. Schapelle went to Bali for a holiday. Somebody planted a big wad of pot in her bag. When she got to customs with her friend and they asked her if the bag was hers, she said yes, as anybody would. Then they opened it and found drugs she didn't even know were there. She has spent months since in a crappy 3rd world prison where the life expectancy is 10 years. She is innocent. There was enough reasonable doubt for her not to be convicted in an Australian court. The dirty Indonesian judges ignored it and convicted anyway. Meanwhile Indonesian fishermen continue to invade our northern waters and steal our fish and the dirty Indos have the hide to ask US to look after them better. Boycott Indonesia. Don't go to Bali. Cut off aid: why should my taxes pay those dirty bastards. Give us back our $1 billion tsunami aid! |
| Posted by: anon1 2005-05-30 00:31 |