Australian Schapelle Corby (L) prays while she is escorted by policemen as she arrives at the court for prosecutors final remark in a Denpasar courtroom on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on May 6, 2005
Posted on 05/06/2005 12:19:07 PM PDT by Selkie
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- An Australian prisoner who gave evidence at accused drug smuggler Schapelle Corby's trial in Bali has been bashed and stabbed in jail.
The incident comes as Indonesian prosectors wrapped up their case Thursday against the 27-year old Australian beautician, arguing they had presented enough evidence to convict her of smuggling 4.1 kilograms of cannabis onto the tourist island from Australia.
John Patrick Ford, who is on remand in a Victorian jail, awaiting trial on rape and aggravated burglary charges, told the court in March that he heard a prisoner say the drugs were placed in Corby's bag by an Australian drug syndicate
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Guess Australia's Gov't. doesn't care much.
Australia just pledged 5 million in polio prevention to Muslimnesia yesterday.
Australian Schapelle Corby (L) prays while she is escorted by policemen as she arrives at the court for prosecutors final remark in a Denpasar courtroom on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on May 6, 2005
Typically my reaction to Corby's profestations of innocence would be, "Nice try." But I think in this case she really didn't know about the drugs.
Corby loses heart as prosecutors demand life
By Matthew Moore, Herald Correspondent in Denpasar
May 7, 2005
Indonesian prosecutors made a final appeal to judges to convict Schapelle Corby and sentence her to jail for life, insisting marijuana in her luggage was hers because it was in her bag.
In a hearing that lasted just 20 minutes, prosecutor Ni Wayan Sinaryati rejected Corby's arguments last week that they should have fingerprinted the plastic bags containing 4.1 kilograms of marijuana and should have accepted more evidence from Corby's witnesses.
"We stick to our sentencing request and don't need to respond to the defence statement and the statement provided by Schapelle Leigh Corby," she said.
The defence "emotionally used words or expressions that were unkind and full of cynicism and even accused us, as well as officers of the customs and police, of violating the law", prosecutors said.>>>>>
They never finger printed the marijuana bag and sound very defensive.
Me thinks the court cares more about its honor than a human life.
Getting life for a little over 9lbs of pot seems a bit extreme to me and I'm no advocate of legalizing drugs. Plus from the sound of this piece the court is not dealing with this in a fair and even-handed manner. I can't imagine that the prisons in Indonesia are very attractive either.
This story reminds me of two movies that dealt with young westerners experiencing the harshness of law in Malaysia and Thailand.
"Return to Paradise" and "Brokedown Palace"
Both of the movies were based on true stories.
I've never done a drug in my life (unless caffeine counts ;_) , but the 'justice' shown in those movies had dissuaded me from ever wanting to visit those countries.
I'll add Indonesia to the list.
The US State Department estimates about 600,000 to 800,000 people – mostly children and women – are trafficked across national borders annually.
Girls from the villages of Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines are lured into cities or neighbouring countries with promises of lucrative jobs as waitresses and domestic helpers, only to end up in massage parlours and karaoke bars.
Others are flown as far as Australia, Japan, South Africa and the United States to be kept as slaves in brothels – beaten, drugged, starved or raped in the first days of their reclusion to intimidate and prepare them for clients, the experts say.
Sex tourism is a profitable business. Data provided by the International Labour Organisation showed that 2 to 14 percent of the gross domestic product of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand comes from sex tourism, experts said
>>>>>
Indonesia, trafficking in drugs is a sin punishable by death, while trafficking in young kids is Aokay. Hypocrites.
If I were president I'd drop a MOAB right on their hall of justice.
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