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Darkflan

I tired to put this in the News area, but it seems I cannot post there

Full Article Here

This is just crazy.

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"They say we fund al-aquada
sounds like the governments jealous
lets get the enemy stoned
bring our ninjas home
to hell with Christian zealots " -mc chris

 

blondie0420

Reminds me of that Claire Danes movie, Brokedown Palace.

Prior to reading the story, I was about to post here saying something like... "Let this be a lesson..." because, you know, just because you're from a place where possession of a little herb isn't that big of a deal (well, it is and it isn't), doesn't mean it's not a big deal elsewhere. Too many times have I heard of people going on "vacation" and getting into lots of trouble because they assumed the laws were about the same at home as they are everywhere else....

...but that doesn't appear to be the case here.

Hopefully her country will stand up for her. I'm sure if the government of Australia (where, I believe they do have "harm reduction" laws in place when it comes to drugs) were to stand up for her against the Balinese government, she'd be ok.

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Buzzby

Corby's death sentence was commuted to life and then reduced to 20 years. This is a four-year-old story. The version you linked to is three years old. A lot has changed since then.

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Darkflan

Woops. Hah, Sorry. My girlfriend just told me about it. It seems they are still fighting this today.

Pompo

I happened apon this while digging up news stories today, something a little more current

Corby defence up in smoke
6/23/08|Gold Coast Publications|


Schapelle Leigh Corby - Photo courtesy of Google

STARTLING revelations were aired in a two-hour tell-all Schapelle Corby documentary last night.

Lies and cover-ups were highlighted in the never before seen footage and interviews that made up the first part of the three-hour film, Schapelle Corby: The Hidden Truth.

In the documentary, Corby's former defence lawyer Robin Tampoe admitted to inventing the defence theory that Australian baggage handlers planted the drugs in Corby's luggage.

Mr Tampoe also made claims that former foreign minister Alexander Downer asked whether the drugs were her brother's.

Corby, who turns 31 next month, is serving a 20-year sentence in Bali's Kerobokan prison after she was convicted of smuggling 4.1kg of marijuana through Denpasar airport in October 2004.

The Queenslander maintains her innocence.

Mr Downer told the ABC Radio yesterday that he had no special knowledge.

"I did ask them about the brother and whether there was any family involvement, but I only asked them," he said.

During the documentary, Mr Tampoe, who Schapelle Corby sacked in May, 2005, immediately after she was sentenced to 20 years' jail, made the claim that Mr Downer had asked Schapelle Corby's lawyer whether there might be any family involvement in her drug smuggling attempt into Bali.

"Speak to the brother, speak to the older brother, that's what (Alexander) Downer said to me," he said.

Mr Tampoe also admits inventing the defence theory that Australian baggage handlers could have planted the drugs in Corby's luggage.

"Baggage handlers didn't put drugs in the bag. Nothing to do with it," said Mr Tampoe.

"Now she (Schapelle Corby) believes it. They all (expletive) believe it. It's not true. That's why you can't put direct evidence relating to baggage handlers."

Mr Tampoe admitted thinking up the defence after hearing an ABC radio talkback program where callers were discussing alleged corruption among airport staff.

In the documentary, Mr Tampoe said it was 'more likely than not that somebody other than baggage handlers put the drugs in her bag'.

Asked what he would say to the baggage handlers of Australia, Mr Tampoe said: "Sorry about that, guys. Poor buggers ... thanks for the defence."

Corby's younger half-brother, James Kisina, was travelling with her on the day of her arrest. In the documentary, Corby denied 'taking the rap' for James, her half-brother, who was initially carrying the boogie-board bag until Corby identified it as hers.

James Kisina was later convicted of drug possession and assault charges after his return to Queensland.

Her elder brother, Michael Corby, and sister Mercedes, also appear in the documentary , denying a cover-up.

Sydney director and producer Janine Hosking, who made the film, had unprecedented access to the Corby family and supporters for three years and used hidden cameras to get footage of Schapelle in jail.

Ms Hosking smug-gled cameras into Kerobokan prison to interview Corby and gained access to private meetings of the family, legal teams and advisers.

Also in the documentary, convicted Adelaide drug smuggler Malcolm McCauley, who visited Schapelle Corby in jail, claimed to know the truth about the drugs.

He was also seen outside the prison with Mercedes Corby, offering to procure some 'smoke' for his next visit.

However, Schapelle Corby denies being friends with McCauley.

Corby's late father Mick appears in the film, saying he considered confessing to planting the drugs in his daughter's bag to get her out.

And Corby's Indonesian defence lawyer Vasu Rasiah was shown in the film discussing a plan to bribe the Balinese judges.

The plan was ultimately abandoned, according to the documentary, but an unidentified person later rang the mobile phone of Corby's supporter, Gold Coast entrepreneur Ron Bakir, claiming to represent the Balinese authorities and asking for a series of bribes to ensure a light sentence.

"I am asking for $400,000 in the beginning, and then for the second stage $250,000; the third stage in the Supreme Court another $250,000. That's it," said the caller.

"The last decision in the Supreme Court will be 12 years (sentence). That's it. And she just needs to be inside six years, that's all."

Mr Bakir is seen refusing the offer.

"I'm not interested. This is no good," he said.

The documentary comes after Corby was hospitalised on Friday afternoon suffering severe depression, Indonesian prison officials and doctors have confirmed.

Her mother, Rosleigh Rose, said Corby had lost 12kg from her diminutive frame and 'her hope' following a series of events.

These included the deaths of her father, Michael, in January, and of her stepfather, Greg Martin, last year; the loss of her final appeal in March; and the absence of her sister Mercedes from visiting the jail while she fought a defamation action against the Seven Network.

Corby's final legal challenge failed in March when Indonesia's Supreme Court upheld her 20-year sentence.

Corby's hopes of being released from prison have relied on the outcome of long-running negotiations between Indonesia and Australia over a prisoner transfer deal.

The documentary Schapelle Corby: The Hidden Truth concludes on Tuesday night.

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__________________________________________________ ________________________Arcade

 

Pompo

Downer admits to raising theory on Corby's brother
6/23/08|The Australian| by Michael McKenna

FORMER foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer has admitted that he told lawyers for Schapelle Corby - who is on suicide watch in a Bali hospital - to consider that her brother may have been involved in the foiled drug-smuggling attempt.

Mr Downer made the admission after Corby's dumped Australian lawyer, Robin Tampoe, told a documentary he had confected her initial defence that Australian baggage-handlers had planted 4.2kg of marijuana in her bodyboard bag.

Corby, arrested at Denpasar airport in October 2004, was jailed for 20 years after a Bali court dismissed Mr Tampoe's arguments that the drugs had been planted in the bag before she left Australia.

Mr Downer yesterday said Mr Tampoe's admission - in a two-part Nine Network documentary that began last night - would not go down well with Indonesian authorities.

"To say that they have been pushing a line in the court which they now admit is not true is a very damaging thing to do," he said.

After dealing with the defence team as foreign minister, Mr Downer, who does not appear in the documentary, Schapelle Corby: The Hidden Truth, yesterday confirmed he had raised the prospect of involvement of her younger half-brother, James Sioeli Kisina, who travelled with her on the ill-fated flight.

"I did ask them about the brother and whether there was any family involvement but I only asked them," he said.

"I mean, I just simply didn't know, and to this very day Schapelle Corby's been convicted by the court - I didn't know anything more than the evidence that's been presented to the court."

In 2006, The Australian revealed that Mr Kisina, now 20, was directly linked by Queensland police to the drug run into Bali.

Senior Queensland detectives made the allegations against him in court documents after he was arrested for allegedly leading a home invasion in Brisbane's south.

"He (Mr Kisina) is suspected of some involvement in the exportation of cannabis for which his sister has received a 20-year imprisonment sentence," the affidavit says, sworn by arresting officer Detective Sergeant Dean Godfrey.

Mr Kisina carried the bag to the Customs desk, but when asked by officials if it was his, Corby interrupted and claimed ownership.

Schapelle Corby, 30, is on suicide watch in a Denpasar hospital after suffering depression in Kerobokan.

The Nine Network yesterday was promoting the first of a two-part, four-hour documentary, which the network claims will "challenge, indeed explode" the myths of her case.

The program's creator, Janine Hosking, said she was disappointed by reports that Corby family lawyers were considering legal action once Hidden Truth went to air.

"I admire many aspects of them actually, but I can't make the film that only the Corbys want you to see."

Pompo

Union demands apology from Corby lawyers over false claim
6/23/08|The Sydney Morning Herald| by Josephine Tovey

THE Transport Workers Union is demanding a proper apology from Schapelle Corby's legal defence team for their "vicious and defamatory" claim that baggage handlers were responsible for planting marijuana in her boogie board bag.

Corby's former lawyer, Robin Tampoe, admitted in a film shown on Channel Nine last night that he made up the claim about the baggage handlers, which was a central argument in Corby's defence and led to widespread speculation about corruption among airport staff.

Hughie Williams, the secretary of the Queensland branch of the TWU, said he was particularly angry to hear that the claim had been fabricated, as he had sent a member of his union to Bali to speak in Corby's defence.

"They rang me, those lawyers, and asked me if I could get a baggage handler to go across to Denpasar to support her with some evidence," he said. "One of our blokes went over there for a week, he was in the cell with her, even prayed with her a few times."

A former Brisbane Airport baggage handler, Scott Speed, 47, who is out of the country on holiday, appeared in the Bali court in 2005 on behalf of Corby.

"He stood up before the three judges and said that it would have been almost impossible for her to have smuggled it across in her boogie board," said Mr Williams. "All baggage handlers at the main airports deserve an apology."

Mr Williams said that the trip to Bali was paid for by the Gold Coast businessman Ron Bakir, who was formerly an advocate for Corby.

Mr Tampoe made a half-hearted attempt at an apology to airport staff affected by the accusations in the two-part documentary, Schapelle Corby: The Hidden Truth, which concludes tonight. Asked what he would say to the baggage handlers, Mr Tampoe said: "Sorry about that guys. Poor buggers … I won't do it again. Thanks for the defence."

The admission comes amid fears for Corby's health, after she was taken from Bali's Kerobokan jail to a hospital in Denpasar, reportedly suffering depression and extreme weight loss.

Mr Tampoe also said in the film that the former foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer told him he suspected Corby's brothers were behind the crime, a suggestion Mr Downer played down on ABC Radio yesterday.

"I did ask [Corby's legal team] about the brother and whether there was any family involvement, but I only asked them," Mr Downer said. "I mean, I just simply didn't know … anything more than the evidence that's been presented to the court."