Why all the hysteria over Schapelle Corby?

[Violet_Crumble]

I've got a few theories, like some of it's coming from long held racism against Indonesians, and that some people are so dense that they think Bali is part of Australia and so the justice system should be exactly the same. But I doubt there's going to be anywhere near the same level of hysteria and rage over the nine who got arrested for smuggling heroin (they were busted redhanded and none of them are pretty or Gold Coast beauty school students), so maybe those theories of mine don't really work...

Any thoughts? I suspect she probably is innocent and I feel terrible for her and her family, but I don't think the trial was corrupt nor that they picked on her because she's an Australian...


Violet...

[lenidog]

1. Actually from what I have read the Indonesians bent over backwards

to make it a fair trial. She is young, female, pretty and Australian and that is why there is an uproar. If she was any other nationality no one in Australia would care.

[Warpy]

4. Right, and since this has been an issue, the Australians

have changed their policies to keep suspects on the plane and return them to Australia so that they won't face a possible death penalty in Indonesia.

I hate the drug war. It's the stupidest idea politicians have ever come up with, stupider even than Empire. The only idea as stupid was the attempted prohibition of alcohol.

God/Earth/Mother Nature has given us psychoactive plants for a reason. To declare war on them is to declare war on the divine.

It's not going to work, either.

[exploited]

13. 501 for 501

Actually from what I have read the Indonesians bent over backwards to make it a fair trial

Are you serious? When Judge Sirait stands proudly by his 15 year record of finding 500 guilty verdicts in his 500 drugs cases?

There was only ever going to be one outcome. Posession is 10/10's of the law. Hardly fair and hardly defensible.

[moddemny]

2. This is a very preliminary impression........

from what I have heard and observed is that many people percieve an anti-western (I guess you call Australia westernized?) bias towards her. She is victim of the Anti-America syndrome (and Australia is America's friend) around the world. Thats just an initial perception, I dont know every detail about the trial and have never been to Indonesia.

[punpirate]

3. The big complaint is over the evidence...

... and how it was treated. She maintained that the bag was unlocked, and the hashish was placed in the bag during flight baggage handling, so that she would become an unwitting courier.

Her lawyers had tried to get videotapes of the baggage handling area first from Qantas, and then later, through the government (they thought it would prove someone else was involved). Then, there were problems with the Indonesian court accepting the tapes as evidence if they could be obtained. From what I read a couple of months ago, it didn't sound as if the tapes were ever produced.

The case, over many months, achieved lots of notice because the maximum penalty in such instances in Indonesia is death. With that possibility hanging over her, it was bound to cause heightened feelings about the fairness of the trial itself and about Corby.

Cheers.

[Matilda]

5. The "evidence" I think is what turned this case into a big event.

You're right, the tapes had been wiped (given the baggage handler
case, one can't help suspecting this was no accident), and also the
bag of dope was repeatedly handled by the Customs officials at the
scene, instead of being handled carefully and passed to police for
fingerprinting. No attempt was made to get fingerprint evidence.
Had they followed what would have been normal procedure here, and
found Corby's prints on the bag, nobody could have argued with the
verdict. If it happened here, the contaminated evidence would not
have been acceptable in court.

The biggest difference in the two systems is that in our system, the
prosecution has to prove guilt; there the defendant has to prove
innocence, and with the evidence being unavailable or tampered with,
Corby never had a chance. And as it's marijuana, not heroin, of
course there's sympathy here - there but for the grace of God,
etc.

I can't help but feel that if she really was so dumb as to stick the
bag in the top of her boogie board with no attempt to hide it or
split it up into smaller bags, she deserves to be in jail, but it
really is hard to believe that anyone in their right mind would
do that. I normally don't have much sympathy for people caught
smuggling drugs, because there's no shortage of publicity about what
happens to you in Asian countries, but under our law there's plenty
of reason for doubt in Corby's case, and that's what people find
so hard to accept.

I wouldn't be surprised if, when enough time has passed and the fuss
dies down, Howard makes a personal appeal for clemency to Yudhyono.
It couldn't be done now, because the Indonesians would lose face,
but later perhaps, if Howard feels he needs to rack up some brownie
points some time.

[punpirate]

6. It's probably going to remain in the news...

... for a while yet, though. I heard this afternoon that in Indonesian courts, it's permissible for the prosecutor to appeal the sentence, and apparently, the prosecutors in this case are planning to appeal for a tougher sentence--either life imprisonment or death.

I wonder, though, if Howard would make an appeal on her behalf... he's too tied to the US and the conservatives, who would howl if he did so.

[Djinn]

7. just what you said

most of the vocal protest is coming from, frankly, fucking morons. Bet not ONE of them could name the 2 Australians on death row or any of the HUNDREDS of Australians serving time on drug charges across asia.

[Matilda]

8. And driven by the MSM for their own purposes.

I do think that on balance of probabilities it seems likely that
she's innocent, but the media don't really care, and wouldn't bother
if she wasn't an attractive and presentable young woman. If they
really wanted to help her, they'd shut up now and let it die down.
But they'll milk it until there's nothing left and then dump her.

Meanwhile, David Hicks still waits for a trial date - for what? -
to be set. Where's the outrage?

[Djinn]

9. to be honest I actually think she's most likely guilty

all the reasons I've heard that supposedly point to her innocence are highly debatable.

how many people busted use the "someone musta planted it" defence, the idea that baggage handlers would carry a 4kg bag of pot to work on the off chance that there'll be a bag big enough that's unlocked to stash it in is a bit of a stretch.

and people DO most definitely smuggle pot to Bali, decent Australia pot sells better (to westerners) than the shite sold in Bali and westerners pay up to three times the going rate in Australia to buy from fellow westerners, ensuring they wont end up in a Balinese jail after buying drugs from an Indo policeman

[SweetLeftFoot]

10. She had

also been to Bali seven times in the last two years.

Not bad for beauty school student.

When I was a student I was happy tro make it to the beach once a summer.

[Matilda]

11. This is what puzzles me -

She'd been so often, she knew the ropes - why would she stash the
bag in the top of an unlocked boogie bag? It's such a stupid,
stupid thing to do. BTW, I believe her sister lives there, so I
guess accommodation charges are nil for her. It would also mean
that they'd know the local setup better than the average tourist.

Of course if the damn bag had been fingerprinted, there'd be no
doubt.

[SweetLeftFoot]

14. Her brother

now being done for home invasion and dope dealing doesn't exactly help.

Best case scenario - she knew it was in the bag and took the rap for him.

[Kire]

12. same deal with the Holloway kidnapping in Aruba

the fairy tale princess syndrome, meanwhile LaToyia Figueroa's pregnant dead body has just been found