Schapelle Corby Files Clemency Bid, Australia Will Support

By Jeralyn, Section Foreign Affairs
Posted on Fri Apr 09, 2010 at 01:25:32 PM EST
Tags: Schapelle Corby (all tags)

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Schapelle Corby, imprisoned in Indonesia for 20 years after being convicted of smuggling 4 kilos of marijuana into Bali, has filed a clemency petition with the Indonesian Government which alleges, as has been reported many times the past few years, she has gone insane.

Finally, the Australian Government is supporting her:

A spokesman for Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith said yesterday that Canberra would support "any application by Ms Corby for clemency".

"I have made that clear to Ms Corby's family," he said. "[However] it is important to bear in mind that the decision to grant clemency is for the President of Indonesia."

It's long past time to send Shapelle home. Our prior coverage since the time of her arrest in 2005 is assembled here.

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Schapelle Corby Files Clemency Bid, Australia Will Support | 9 comments (9 topical)

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Man I remember the days on TL (5.00 / 1) (#1)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Fri Apr 09, 2010 at 02:48:38 PM EST

when this topic would lead to dozens and dozens of comments, back when TL really was about The Politics of Crime.

Oh well, fwiw, I hope she is granted clemency.

: me four (5.00 / 1) (#4)
by CST on Fri Apr 09, 2010 at 03:34:22 PM EST

20 years in an indonesian prison I would probably go insane too.

: I hope so too. (none / 0) (#2)
by oculus on Fri Apr 09, 2010 at 02:58:43 PM EST

: Me too... (none / 0) (#3)
by kdog on Fri Apr 09, 2010 at 03:30:53 PM EST

I can't believe she is still locked up.
What a truly sick world.

Surprise, Concern, and "Screaming!" (none / 0) (#5)
by Gerald USN Ret on Fri Apr 09, 2010 at 06:22:57 PM EST

First I don't know if she is guilty or not. It does seem likely. Someone at the trial thought so.

Why would someone plant MJ in her bag and without her knowing it as well.

Did she use MJ? Was she tested (blood and hair)? Did she run with a MJ using crowd?

There are places that have draconian laws. I have never understood why anyone would choose to go to those places if there is the slightest chance of breaking one of those laws.

I have been on ships in many ports. In a few of those ports I preferred not to leave the ship unless I had an imperative to do so, and then only with an escort.

From the time-line, she has been in jail about 5 years now. She should have 10 to go with the reduced sentence. I hope she gets out soon. I hope she gives up drugs and the crowd that uses them.

Don't think that I am all that cold hearted. I have known men that had to do serious time, and some of them had families. With some of them, I suffered along with their families.

And finally I will quote from a very good movie about these kinds of things:

"25 Hours" Spike Lee, and Ed Norton.
Uncle Nikolai: "I have been in three different prisons, Montgomery. Three different countries. And you know what I learned? I learned prison is a bad place to be."

: True enough... (none / 0) (#10)
by kdog on Sat Apr 10, 2010 at 10:43:44 AM EST

it certainly is no secret that there are many places on earth still practicing extreme totalitarian barbarism to varying degrees, our place included. And you travel to such places at your own risk, knowing the risk. Very sad, but very true.
But lets not blame the victim here...just because barbarism is the law of the land doesn't make it any less barbarian, or any less worthy of serious scorn. To me, this is no different than a gang of thugs kidnapping a woman and locking them in a dungeon for 20 years...it's a violent crime, plain and simple.

Kimpat... (none / 0) (#9)
by Gerald USN Ret on Sat Apr 10, 2010 at 02:41:46 AM EST

Kimpat...

you make a convincing case.

unfortunately I deleted that comment (none / 0) (#11)
by Jeralyn on Sun Apr 11, 2010 at 01:45:00 AM EST

by kimpat by accident. I'm sorry because it was really good. I hope she reposts and apologize. I was deleting spammers and her registration got mixed up with those.


: Just found it in google cache (5.00 / 1) (#12)
by Jeralyn on Sun Apr 11, 2010 at 01:47:32 AM EST

Kimpat wrote:

I live in Queensland, Australia, about 40 minutes drive from Schapelle's mother. Here are the facts of this case.
Schapelle Corby begged for CCTV from 4 airport terminals to clear her name, Brisbane domestic, Sydney domestic, Sydney International and Bali. Every single frame of CCTV from those four airports (including their baggage handling areas), went "Missing." All four areas were formal crime scenes, and the CCTV should have been expertly preserved at once. The exact hour Schapelle flew, and from within the exact same terminal at Sydney Airport, Senior Police Officer Mark Standen was running a major drugs operation (Operation Mocha). He's since been busted, and is now in jail, awaiting trial on conspiring to import $120 million worth of drugs into this country. Schapelle also begged for her baggage to be weighed in Bali, to compare it to her check-in weight at Brisbane. Request denied. She begged for forensic testing of the marijuana (finger prints and DNA). Request denied. Schapelle's home was not searched by the Queensland police for evidence of drug trafficking, neither did they investigate her banking and phone records. The marijuana found in Schapelle's bag was worth around $40,000 in this country, it was worth less than a tenth of that in Bali. No Australian (before or since), has ever been convicted of smuggling a commercial amount of marijuana into Bali from Australia. With that price differential, it's hardly surprising. None of Schapelle's family has ever been convicted of trafficking in drugs, or selling them, and Schapelle's Father had no criminal record, and neither did Schapelle. It's likely a corrupt insider was supposed to offload that marijuana at Sydney for domestic consumption, but something went wrong, and it never got picked up. There are also multiple mainstream news resources which clearly report on the corruption and graft at our airports, Google these terms, each in turn . . .
ray cooper afp
gary lee rogers
mark standen
And here's this info at my blog, along with appropriately referenced links
Women for Schapelle are currently trying to get an Australian police re-investigation of this case (in relation to the export of drugs from Australia, a Federal crime, and the cultivation & supply of drugs in Australia, a State crime), and currently, every layer of police and Government in Australia are running at a million miles an hour from these legitimate investigations.