Anyone been following this case? I just heard about it a couple minutes ago while I was surfing another board. It reminds me of the movie with Clare Danes and some other chick. Admittedly I know next to nothing about this case but I find the reaction of the Aussies and otherwise white people, laughable. Basically it come down to the Indonesians are all corrupt and don't know what justice is, and the drug smugglers set this poor innocent white chick up. Had this been a black or otherwise minority found with drugs in any white society then these people would be holding the exact opposite opinion of the situation. Also like drug smugglers are in the business of setting up people for shits and grins, please. Anyhow what's everyone elses take on this case?
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian newspapers defended the integrity of the Indonesian justice system but said it had failed to show mercy to Schapelle Corby, the young Australian sentenced to 20 years for smuggling cannabis into the resort island of Bali.
"Nation's fury" Sydney's Daily Telegraph declared on its front page, comparing Corby's sentence with that given to Muslim cleric Abu Bakir Bashir for his role in planning the 2002 Bali bombing.
"This terrorist planned the murder of 88 Australians and got two years. Yesterday Schapelle Corby got 20," the tabloid said.
The Australian newspaper said "Judges show Corby no mercy" while the Sydney Morning Herald focused on the prosecutors' determination to appeal for a heavier sentence.
The Herald's website and Channel Nine's ninemsn portal both reported record numbers of hits as Australians logged on to find out the verdict of the case that has transfixed the country for more than six months.
The Herald said the Corby trial had stopped the nation, with workers crowding around office television sets to watch the court's verdict on the charges against the 27-year-old beauty therapist.
The Telegraph said it had been inundated with emails expressing fury and frustration at the sentence.
"This is outrageous. I will never visit Bali. Their justice system is a joke," wrote Jesse from Sydney.
Sharni Potter told the newspaper: "I just keep thinking this could have been me or someone close to me."
But there was also support for the Indonesian judges.
"Thank the Lord, justice has prevailed," John Sullivan wrote. "If those drugs had made it into Bali, it would have been our kids getting poisoned. One more drug trafficker off the streets."
Newspaper editorials said Australians had no choice but to accept the verdict.
The Telegraph said it could not vouch for Corby's innocence but it felt the sentence was "an abomination" particularly in light of the Bashir case.
The Herald said the court's finding was inevitable, given the evidence against Corby and her defence team's failure to provide a creditable explanation for the marijuana found in her baggage last October.
"It is utterly dismaying that some of Corby's supporters resorted to blatantly racist slurs, discrediting the verdict in advance by demeaning the judges on racial grounds and, in some cases, vilifying all Indonesians," it said.
The Australian said the public anger at the conviction of the "all-Australian girl" was understandable but Corby's offences had been carried out in Indonesia and she was duly tried by an Indonesian court.
"What we think does not matter a hill of beans, Indonesia is a foreign country where they do things differently, just as they choose" it said.
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian newspapers defended the integrity of the Indonesian justice system but said it had failed to show mercy to Schapelle Corby, the young Australian sentenced to 20 years for smuggling cannabis into the resort island of Bali.
"Nation's fury" Sydney's Daily Telegraph declared on its front page, comparing Corby's sentence with that given to Muslim cleric Abu Bakir Bashir for his role in planning the 2002 Bali bombing.
"This terrorist planned the murder of 88 Australians and got two years. Yesterday Schapelle Corby got 20," the tabloid said.
The Australian newspaper said "Judges show Corby no mercy" while the Sydney Morning Herald focused on the prosecutors' determination to appeal for a heavier sentence.
The Herald's website and Channel Nine's ninemsn portal both reported record numbers of hits as Australians logged on to find out the verdict of the case that has transfixed the country for more than six months.
The Herald said the Corby trial had stopped the nation, with workers crowding around office television sets to watch the court's verdict on the charges against the 27-year-old beauty therapist.
The Telegraph said it had been inundated with emails expressing fury and frustration at the sentence.
"This is outrageous. I will never visit Bali. Their justice system is a joke," wrote Jesse from Sydney.
Sharni Potter told the newspaper: "I just keep thinking this could have been me or someone close to me."
But there was also support for the Indonesian judges.
"Thank the Lord, justice has prevailed," John Sullivan wrote. "If those drugs had made it into Bali, it would have been our kids getting poisoned. One more drug trafficker off the streets."
Newspaper editorials said Australians had no choice but to accept the verdict.
The Telegraph said it could not vouch for Corby's innocence but it felt the sentence was "an abomination" particularly in light of the Bashir case.
The Herald said the court's finding was inevitable, given the evidence against Corby and her defence team's failure to provide a creditable explanation for the marijuana found in her baggage last October.
"It is utterly dismaying that some of Corby's supporters resorted to blatantly racist slurs, discrediting the verdict in advance by demeaning the judges on racial grounds and, in some cases, vilifying all Indonesians," it said.
The Australian said the public anger at the conviction of the "all-Australian girl" was understandable but Corby's offences had been carried out in Indonesia and she was duly tried by an Indonesian court.
"What we think does not matter a hill of beans, Indonesia is a foreign country where they do things differently, just as they choose" it said.
