Ms. Corby was jailed after 4.1 pounds kilos of marijuana was found in her luggage. She maintains her innocence. She tried to tell the judges, but it fell on deaf ears.
Alleged marijuana smuggler Schappelle Corby's emotional final plea of innocence was delivered to a bench of apparently unmoved judges, one of whom did not understand her address while another read a book.
She faces life in prison [and possibly the death penalty] if convicted. Her trial has wrapped up and a decision is due May 27. If she is ever granted a new trial and needs more witnesses to come forward, she will have a hard time. One of her defense witnesses was slashed in his jail cell with a razor blade after he testified at ther trial that the drugs had been stashed in her luggage by a gang. He's now in solitary for his protection.
And the latest: A police report yesterday shows that a slew of baggage handlers were arrested in a cocaine smuggling scheme at the same Australian airport she departed from on the same day...but the Indonesian Court won't hear about it because the trial is over. Here's more on the baggage handler's use of unsuspecting fliers' luggage to smuggle drugs.
Crowe isn't alone in his dedication to her case.
Her cause has spun off enough souvenirs to rival a royal wedding and generated more polls than a federal election campaign. There are T-shirts, hats, bumper stickers and uncon- firmed sightings at suburban barbecues of stubby holders bearing the slogan "Free Schapelle". She's become so famous that no surname is needed.
Here's a news page dedicated to the case, where you can catch up from the beginning.
And on a related note, check out the Bali Nine, 9 Australians, as young as 18, facing the death penalty after a recent arrest for smuggling heroin into Bali. They may not have the innocence claims that Shappelle has, the use of the death penalty shows what a backward country Indonesia is.
It may be enough to boycott Bali.
Update: For other prisoners facing similar fates, check out Foreign Prisoners.com For our prior coverage of Scappelle's case, when she was facing death by firing squad, and a connection to legislation the Bush Administration proposed in 2003, go here.
TalkLeft often highlights the plight of those in foreign prison, particularly those facing the death penalty. See these posts on Tripoli; Vietnam; and Saudi Arabia, to name a few.