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Schapelle Corby Update

This being the new year, it's time to check in on Schapelle Corby who is serving 20 years in a hellhole of a Bali prison following her conviction for smuggling four kilos of pot into Bali. (Full coverage here.)

The news isn't good. Despite the fact that conditions at Kerobokan prison are disgusting, she has made friends there, is able to visit with her sister who resides in Bali and receive visits from her parents.

That is about to end. She is expecting to be moved to a prison on the remote side of the island:

Indonesian authorities are set to transfer the 29-year-old Brisbane woman to a prison in the East Java city of Malang, hundreds of kilometres from Kerobokan.....Papers authorising the transfer were sent weeks ago from Jakarta authorities to the warden of Kerobokan, Ilham Djaya, who says the transfer must go ahead because the prison is overcrowded.

Schapelle has written a book from prison, in which she says,

Guards "relish threatening me with being moved from here, as part of their ongoing campaign of mental abuse".

"They'll often say: 'White monkey, we move you tonight.' "

Nor do plans for a prisoner transfer treaty sound promising. Indonesia has rejected the latest draft which would allow Australia to reduce sentences imposed in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Bali has released the wife of a terrorist mastermind who hid him after serving nine months.

Free Schapelle, Boycott Bali.

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  • Display: Sort:
    Wouldn't a simpler solution be possible... (5.00 / 1) (#3)
    by Bill Arnett on Tue Jan 02, 2007 at 01:06:45 PM EST
    ...if, for example, EVERYONE traveling to Bali INSISTED that their bags be searched thoroughly and CERTIFIED to be drug-free, and then sealed with a tamperproof seal that, if broken upon arrival in Bali, would legally entitle the bag's bearer to refuse to pick up the bags and insist that the Bali authorities embargo the bag until it is determined if there are drugs in the bag, and if so, the passenger carrying the bag would be immune from prosecution?

    Whew! That was a long sentence, but I think you get my point that this is something that even the Bali authorities might accept, as their main objective is to stop drug smuggling (after all, they really gain nothing by putting foreigners in jail forever).

    Seems to me that this could be written into a treaty with just a few lines, would not inconvenience anyone, and might stop horrific situation such as this.

    Who would certify the bags (1.00 / 1) (#5)
    by Pancho on Wed Jan 03, 2007 at 12:39:21 AM EST
    and where?

    Why not boycott? If the U.S. drug laws are so draconian, aren't the Indonesian laws absolutely inhumane?

    Parent

    And it gets better (none / 0) (#1)
    by Nowonmai on Tue Jan 02, 2007 at 02:01:36 AM EST
    Shapelle as maintained her innocence. She was told she might get release if she asked for presidential pardon, but she said no, because part of that means she would have to admit something she isn't... guilty.

    Her luggage cleared inspection at the Sydney airport, and was out of her control and possession. The next time she saw it was when she was being told she was under arrest for smuggling drugs.

    The 'cleric' that counseled the "Bali Bombers" and encouraged them to kill got out of prison in less than 2 years.

    Yeah... Indonesian Justice... an oxymoron if I ever heard one.

    Her (none / 0) (#6)
    by Wile ECoyote on Wed Jan 03, 2007 at 08:03:26 AM EST
    Sister does not even boycott Bali?  That is like raggin on Walmart while shopping there or owning their stock.  (apologies to several politicians)