[nickelodeon]

Well Im sure some of the information I am about to say may be incorrect so please correct me if it is wrong.


The people who killed over 200 people in Bali only get sentence to 30 months in jail!

Shapel Corby could be sentenced to life in jail for smuggling drugs that she says was planted so she has a chance of being inocent.

Now what I don't understand is how someone who killed over 200 people get only 30 months in jail and how someone who can be potentially inocent can be sentenced to life!

your comments please.

[linskyjack]

Hey, thats life in a country where leadership fears Islamic insurgents.

[nickelodeon]

mmm

[angelize56]

On the Bali issue....this monster deserves far more than the laughable sentence he got!

Bali survivor fears sentence will encourage terrorists

March 3, 2005 - 5:08PM

A Perth survivor of the Bali bombings said today he feared terrorists would be encouraged by the "totally inadequate" sentence handed down to alleged terror leader Abu Bakar Bashir.

A Jakarta court convicted the Muslim cleric of criminal conspiracy today and sentenced him to two and a half years jail, but cleared him of more serious offences.

Peter Hughes suffered burns to 54 per cent of his body after surviving two of the devastating bomb blasts in October, 2002, that killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.

Despite standing just metres from the suicide bomber in Paddys Bar, Mr Hughes was able to stagger into the street before a second bomb went off outside the Sari Club, propelling him back into the burning building.

After coming out of a month-long coma, during which he died and was revived three times, Mr Hughes recovered enough to write a book about his experiences, and gave a witness impact statement at the trial of Amrozi - who was sentenced to death. (Now that's a just sentence for such an atrocious act!)

Today, Mr Hughes said he feared the outcome in the trial of Bashir - whom many western governments believe is the spiritual leader of Jemaah Islamiah - would only encourage more attacks.

"I've always thought that he was pretty much behind the Bali bombings - the conspiracy.

"That doesn't send a message to anyone ... two years is nothing in the scheme of things.

"It affected 21 different countries, let alone Indonesia, and I tend to think he has got off extremely lightly.

"It just sends a message to his followers to keep doing it."

With credit for time already served, Bashir could walk free before the end of 2006. (Talk about injustice!)

The five-judge panel acquitted him of five more serious anti-terror charges, including directly ordering the Bali attack.

"I tend to think that he is at the top of this group," Mr Hughes said.

"I tend to think he should have a life imprisonment.

"The message should be life for heading something up like this and to be taken as guilty, his followers are going to be sitting outside court laughing their heads off and thinking 'well, we can go ahead and do this more often than not'."

Mr Hughes said he felt the Indonesian justice system had erred by delivering a "slap on the wrist" to a "cowardly man who had preyed on the young, weak and vulnerable".

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2005/...?oneclick=true

[angelize56]

This group killed no one directly...but look at the sentence they are up against...compared to a terrorist! They could get death for 8.3 kilograms of heroin...yet a terrorist responsible for the deaths of 200 people gets a lousy two years! I see what you mean nickelodeon!

Send them all to the firing squad

By Matthew Moore, Lindsay Murdoch and Philip Cornford in Denpasar
April 28, 2005

Each of the nine Australians held in Bali on heroin charges is a big step closer to death row.

Indonesian police say they want all of them to face a firing squad for drug trafficking. Previously they had said that only the four arrested with 8.3 kilograms of heroin strapped to their stomachs and thighs at Bali's international airport would be charged with a capital offence.

But another five could now also face a firing squad after police said yesterday they were being investigated for trafficking heroin rather than possession.

In another blow to claims by some of the nine that they were innocent dupes of a drug syndicate, police have alleged that many of them had been to Bali at least once before in recent months, and that some of them had false passports.

Minutes after the announcement that they may face death, journalists broke the news to Renae Lawrence in a barred exercise compound. Stony-faced, she said: "Can't do much about that." Looking bewildered, Scott Rush, 19, said: "I don't know."

The commander of the narcotics bureau, Lieutenant-Colonel Bambang Sugiarto, said five of the nine had made other visits to Bali since October.

He said the alleged leader, Myuran Sukumaran, 24, and his deputy, Andrew Chan, 21, met in Bali last October. It was the first visit by both of them. Sukumaran arrived on October 4 and Chan on October 16.

Lawrence, 27, had been in Bali twice before, in October and December last year. She was accompanied by the youngest of the group, Matthew Norman, 18, and Tach Duc Thanh Nguyen, 27, on the December visit. Norman visited again in January.

"I've been to Bali three times but I've never done this before," Lawrence said. She denied having false passports.

Martin Stephens, 29, Si Yi Chen, 20, Michael Czugaj, 19, and Scott Rush were in Bali for the first time, police said.

Asked if he believed the Australians were involved in heroin trafficking during their earlier visits, Colonel Sugiarto said: "We don't know that. We are still investigating."

He said Norman "tried to falsify his identity" by using different passports and different birth dates. Sukumaran and Lawrence both had more than one Australian passport.

All nine are now being held under section 82 of Indonesia's anti-narcotics law, which carries a maximum penalty of death for trafficking. In the early days of the investigation, police said only those caught carrying heroin on their bodies - Lawrence, Stephens, Czugaj and Rush - were being held under this section. The other five were detained under section 78, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' jail for possession of narcotics.

Two of the defence lawyers said there was no guarantee that police would succeed in charging all nine under section 82.

"They can ask for it, but they cannot be sure they will get it until the investigations is finished - and that's a long way off," said Anggia Browne, who acts for Lawrence and Stephens.

In Canberra, the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, said Australia would plead for clemency in the event of death sentences.

[guitarman1]

You are mixing 2(two) different cases of smuggling Angelize,and Nickleodeon so far has failed to correct you,not your fault I doubt its on the news in the US.
Schappelle Corby is awaiting her verdict for smuggling 4.1 kilograms of CANNABIS which she might if(when)she is found guilty,the prosecution has asked for a LIFE sentence,however the panel of 3 judges could still give her the DEATH sentence,Corby denies the ownership of the cannabis which was found in her surfboard carrybag by Bali customs,she has sexistly recieved a lot of sympathy in the media I believe based on nothing more than her beauty.
Now the "BALI 9" as the press has dubbed them are accused of smuggling (depends on which version and it changes in amount daily)between 8 and 11 kilos of HEROIN,this has caused a big stink here as the Australian government has set them up to be busted in Bali on purpose when they allegedly had been watched for 10 weeks prior in Oz,in these cases usually the Oz Federal Police would allow the drugs into Australia in an attempt to discover all the players involved.It appears they deliberately got them busted in Bali for political purposes as Australian Law states the police cannot help a Foreign government in criminal charges that involves the death penalty for Australian citizens(or anyone else).The you know what has hit the fan over here on this one. Indonesia has a law system that was based on information on the back of a CornFlake packet. Here is a link to all the info on the "Bali 9" and it will lead to links for Corby as well........
http://www.smh.com.au/news/World/Pol...462101414.html
In any legal system the punishment should fit the crime,regardless of anyones position on TSG forums towards cannabis,the DEATH PENALTY for CANNABIS is a MORAL OUTRAGE

[angelize56]

gman1: I didn't do that on purpose...I was just pointing out the difference in the sentences for the two crimes....seems a terrorist should be put to death much more than a drug dealer....that's the point I was trying to make...I'm not a dummy ya know!

[guitarman1]

Originally Posted by angelize56

gman1: I didn't do that on purpose...I was just pointing out the difference in the sentences for the two crimes....seems a terrorist should be put to death much more than a drug dealer....that's the point I was trying to make...I'm not a dummy ya know!

Never said you were a dummy,I didn't think you did anything wrong or on purpose,I thought the dig was directed at nickelodeon for not pointing out to you that there were 2 similar(ish) stories going around in OZ at the moment,I wasn't dumping on you or the USA when I stated I doubted it would be on the news in the USA ,and certainly not dominating the news like it is over here,it is truly a media circus(both cases).Corby was begging the judges to release her on this evenings news,every time she appears in court she has to run the gauntlet of the media,no western country would conduct court cases in this manner.
The BALI 9 are filmed and shown in their cells on a daily basis its truly like a "soap opera" You would have to see it all to believe it.
The bitter irony of a cannabis smuggler potentially recieving the death penalty when Bashir only got 30 months for his part in the death of 200 Australians has not escaped the Australian public or media attention,and yes there is a lot of anger,however the Australian government put themselves in a difficult position in regards to Amrozi's death sentence when it now required to plea for clemency/mercy for Australian citizens by law.

[angelize56]

Gman1: Understood! I thought you thought I didn't know what he was talking about! I posted the article I did about the heroin smugglers that I found while trying to find an article about Corby! It was a misunderstanding! Glad we cleared that up! And NO pot smuggler deserves the death penalty! Sheesh!

[holly929]

The fact that you are all bickering about who said what and not about the real issue doesn't say alot for your personalities.
Our Australian citizens (whatever wrongs they have done. guilty or innocent.) should be recieving your love and support. What if your bag was tampered with! Would you appreciate people bickering over who wrote what or would you prefer to hear some words of hope.
Stop argueing and start doing something to get our people home.

As for nickelodeon, you bring up a wonderful point. one of their own citizens who is accused of murdering over 200 people gets an absolutely bias and disgusting sentence, yet foreigners face the death penalty over 4.5 kilo's of canibis.

The indonesian government and legal authorities should be blown up in the next bombing. maybe that may get their attention to their poor legal abilities.

[holly929]

i also think that australian citizens should stop visiting Bali, and take away their tourism industry so they realize how the Australian public feel about their abilities as a government to run a country

[EvileYe]

20 YEARS !!!
For smuggling a few kilo's of marijuana.

2 Years for killing over 200 people ?

What sort of Justice is this ?

I am literally disgusted in the Indonesian Justice system. This poor girl would probably have been found not guilty by an Australian court, due to the sheer doubt in the minds of the jurors.
There has been ample evidence of baggage tampering at Australian airports, over the past 6 months. The big question is why would an obviously intelligent woman, attempt to smuggle marijuana into Bali, when you can buy the stuff cheaper in Bali than in Australia ?
I believe she is the innocent victim of a domestic trafficking group, who literally picked the wrong bag to put their drugs in.
I wish I could reclaim my donation to the Indonesians when the Tsunami hit. They don't deserve it.
I believe all Australian aid to this country should stop immediately.
I also support a boycott of any travel to Bali and the rest of Indonesia.
All Indonesian diplomats should be expelled, and our embassies in Indonesia should be closed.
I have had enough of these so called civilised people and their human rights abuses !

FREE ! Schapelle Corby, and give me ten minutes with Bashir !

[AvvY]

I would just like to say, that I seriously doubt that Corby did infact smuggle drugs into Bali. It makes no logical sense to smuggle drugs INTO Bali from Australia. Seriously, you would be going to Bali FOR the drugs to smuggle back out- Re: "Bali 9".

I think it is wrong, and makes people appear mis-informed if they say that she DID do it. You clearly haven't examined the evidence. All we can say is that she was found guilty of charges that she smuggles drugs. Regardless of the findings, one cannot take it seriously.

Late,

[dugq]

Heres some info I could find on the case which seems fairly non-bias, the only link in this thread I found required registration.


http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...E28737,00.html

The case against our Schapelle
Sian Powell
May 21, 2005

THE evidence stacked against Schapelle Corby is enough to put her on trial anywhere in the world, according to legal experts, and will almost certainly keep her behind bars in Bali.

Almost obscured by the mushrooming cloud of Corby hysteria, the mounting Australian anger, the death threats and xenophobia, the blanket media coverage and the mouthings of various singers, talkback hosts, film stars and politicians, three Indonesian judges have concentrated on a few basic facts.

A transparent plastic sack filled with 4.1kg of marijuana was found inside another plastic sack in Corby's unlocked bodyboard bag at Bali's Ngurah Rai airport on October 8 last year. The former beauty school student has admitted she owns the bag, as well as the bodyboard and the flippers that were in it. Despite lifting the bag on to an arrivals hall counter, she apparently failed to notice its substantial extra weight. Indonesian Customs officers and police stationed at the airport have testified the 27-year-old was reluctant to open the bag, even trying to prevent an official opening it.

Corby's lawyers have tried to throw doubt on the prosecution case, making the point the bag was unlocked, so the cannabis could have been slipped into it anywhere between Brisbane airport and Bali.

A defence witness testified he had heard prisoners talking about how Corby had been an unwitting courier. The defence lawyers suggested the marijuana might have been on a domestic drugs run, destined for Sydney from Brisbane, and a mix-up left it in Corby's bag when it was transferred to the second flight.

They harped on the lapses of Indonesian officials. They pointed out the examination of Corby's bag and the initial interrogation was not video-recorded or tape-recorded by police, and an official translator was not provided. Most important, they told the three judges in Denpasar District Court, the plastic sacks were not examined for fingerprints.

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty has described the Corby defence case as flimsy. The director of the Asian Law Centre at the University of Melbourne, Tim Lindsey, guardedly says the defence lawyers didn't have much material with which to work.

But a top defence lawyer from Jakarta may have been able to do more with it and made a more convincing case, says the Indonesian law expert, adding more mileage could have been made of the police failure to take fingerprints.

Perhaps most important in the eyes of the Australian public, there has been no direct witness testimony to incriminate the young woman from the Gold Coast, who has regularly and tearfully assured the court of her innocence.

But in Indonesia, as in Australia, witness testimony is not necessary for a prosecution or essential for a conviction. Lindsey says the prosecution has made a substantial prima-facie case against her, a case in which she seems, on the surface, to be guilty.

"This is her bag, in the bag was found the cannabis," he says. "In any legal system in the world that would establish a prima-facie case." Once the prima-facie case is before the judges, the defence has no option but to prove it wrong.

Indonesia has a different legal system: juries are not used and a panel of three judges usually decides a defendant's guilt. Many cases in Australia are decided by a judge alone, without a jury. In Australia, Lindsey adds, "a person in her circumstances is very likely to be charged", declining to speculate on whether Corby would be convicted.

Other legal experts, speaking anonymously, say it is likely an Australian judge would find her guilty.

Much of the prosecution's case turns on the arrest of Corby at Ngurah Rai airport. She arrived in Bali in the afternoon of October 8 with her brother, 17-year-old James Kisina, and two friends: Alyth McComb, 25, and Katrina Richards, 17. According to the official indictment, a Customs official saw "forbidden goods" in the bag after it was unloaded from the plane and put through an external X-ray machine.

"Because he was suspicious, the official followed the bag to the baggage claim area and kept watch to determine who owned the bodyboard bag," the indictment says. Corby retrieved the bag and the official maintained his surveillance of her, noting she looked anxious, the indictment continues.

Customs official I Gusti Nyoman Winata told Denpasar District Court that he asked Corby to open the blue bag, but she unzipped only a front pocket. He opened the main zip himself, he said. "When I opened it a bit, she said: 'No,"' Winata said. "I asked: 'Why?', and she said: 'I have some,' and looked confused."

Winata also said she blocked his hand to stop him opening the main zip. Finally the bag was opened, and officials saw a pillow-case sized clear plastic zip-lock bag filled with 4.1kg of marijuana heads.

Winata said Corby identified it as marijuana. "I asked the suspect what was in the plastic bags. She said it was marijuana. I asked her, 'How do you know?' She said, 'I smelled it when you opened the bag."'

Yet casting some doubt on whether the English conversations were fully understood, a second Customs officer, Komang Gelgel, said Corby had told Winata she owned the marijuana, an unlikely admission. "She said, 'This is mine, I own it,"' Gelgel said, a claim Corby vehemently denied.

Gelgel and two police officers largely agreed with Winata's version of events, including Corby's attempt to prevent him opening the main zip. It was damning testimony from four Indonesian civil servants, all apparently objective witnesses.

Corby flatly denied she had tried to avoid opening the main zip of the bodyboard bag. "Well, firstly he didn't ask me to open the bag, he just asked whose bag it was," she told the court. "I opened the bag and I don't remember saying anything or hitting anyone's hand. I opened the bag and then I closed it."

Corby says she voluntarily opened the bag because she thought it was expected of her. She told the court she didn't know what was in the bag, even after the zip was opened. "I was scared, I didn't know what it was," she said. "Then when I closed my boogie board bag up, a strong smell came out. I was very scared, I didn't know what was going on."

Corby didn't deny she identified the substance as marijuana but she said flatly she had never claimed it as hers. She was not looking restless or suspicious, she said; she had been happy about her Bali holiday until grim reality struck.

"I open it, I lift it up and I'm surprised, there's a plastic bag and half-open, and I'm like 'Ohhh!' And I close it up, I can smell it," she told the court. "I never, at any stage, stated that that marijuana belongs to me; never, ever, have I stated that."

In their last statement to the court, Corby's lawyers averred she had said, in a startled fashion, "There is something" rather than "I have some" to Winata, the first time this version of events was related. The lawyers said Winata's ability to speak fluent English was in doubt. Corby's brother and her friends supported her testimony.

Corby also denied one of the police officer's claims that her flippers were found on top of the pillow-case sized plastic sack of marijuana. "There is no way that the flippers can be on top of the plastic bag," she told the court. "I packed my bodyboard and flippers, I did not pack the plastic bag. The flippers cannot be on top of the plastic bag, it can't be there."

Regarding her failure to notice the bag's extra weight, Corby told the court the bag's handle had somehow been broken en route to Bali, meaning she had to drag it.

Asked if that was why she failed to notice the added 4kg, she replied: "Well, I had my suitcase and another bag and I had never dreamed there was anything else in my boogie board bag than what I had just packed."

One of Corby's chief lawyers, Erwin Siregar, asked the two police officer witnesses, Wayan Suwita and I Gusti Ngurah Bagus Astawa, why no fingerprints had been taken from the ziplock plastic sack inside the bodyboard bag. Suwita answered: "We knew it was marijuana, so it wasn't necessary." Siregar pointed out that the crime of drug smuggling potentially carried the death penalty and asked if that made a "perfect investigation" more important.

"It's not my duty to answer that," Suwita replied. "Ask my superior." Astawa also said he did not know whether fingerprints were taken. "It's not my field," he explained. Asked whether fingerprints were necessary in Corby's case, he replied, "No."

Fingerprinting is not a common procedure in Indonesia, where the under-resourced police force is hard-pressed to deal with burgeoning crime.

The defence, though, submitted transcripts of television footage showing gloved police officers dealing with the nine Australians recently arrested for heroin smuggling in Bali. Why gloves for the Bali Nine and not for Schapelle, came the question from the defence.

A transcript of an Indonesian TV interview with Bali drug squad chief Bambang Sugiarto was also tendered to the court by the defence after the closing addresses. Sugiarto said Corby's "condition" was only 50 per cent, apparently referring to shortcomings in the fingerprinting and videotaping elements of the investigation.

Countering the defence's queries about the failure to fingerprint the plastic sack of marijuana, prosecutor Ni Wayan Sinaryati told the court it was unnecessary.

"In this case, the criminal perpetrator was caught red-handed by the Customs officers at the airport," Sinaryati said.

The defence was also unable to prove the weight of Corby's bag when she checked in at Brisbane airport, since all the bags were weighed together and police in Bali did not weigh all the bags for an overall comparison. Nor did Balinese police take up an AFP request to test the marijuana to determine its origin; there was no need, they said, they already had a case.

The prosecution dismissed as worthless various defence witnesses, including Victorian prisoner John Patrick Ford, flown to Bali by the Australian Government to give evidence. Ford had come to Bali, the prosecutors said, because he "wanted to breathe free air", but his testimony was pointless. Already dubbed "hearsay on hearsay" by Keelty, Ford's testimony would not have been admitted by an Australian court, legal experts say.

Chief Judge Linton Sirait, presiding over the Corby case, has also told reporters hearsay is not admissible in Indonesian courts.

Accused of rape, Ford told the Bali court how he overheard two men in prison discussing a drug shipment gone wrong. Corby, he said, was the unwitting scapegoat, but he declined to name the real criminal.

Lindsey says the Indonesian judicial system, unlike the Australian system, will accept dubious evidence for consideration and the judges will then give it no weight.

Defence witness Scott Speed, a Qantas baggage handler at Brisbane airport, told the court it was possible to put drugs or other goods into bags after they had been checked in.

Another defence witness, criminologist Paul Wilson, told the court Corby did not fit the profile of a drug courier, based on his only interview with her, conducted that morning.

Late in the piece, after the closing statements had been made, Corby's legal team presented the judges with a bundle of letters, character references, newspaper articles, a court statement of facts and a report from the Australian Government concerning an airport-linked cocaine-smuggling ring, a gang that was operating on the date she flew to Bali.

Yet legal experts query the cocaine case's evidentiary strength, considering the cocaine smugglers have yet to be tried, let alone convicted.

The bundle of evidence included transcripts of Australian and Indonesian TV programs, with other allegations of drug smuggling in Australian airports.

Yet none of it is sworn evidence, and none can be tested in court. The judges accepted it as an attachment to the defence, but that doesn't mean it will carry any weight in their judgment.

Indonesia is notoriously corrupt, routinely languishing at the bottom of international corruption indexes. The judicial system, too, undoubtably has rotten elements, especially in connection with large civil cases. But no charges of corruption have been levelled against the three judges in Corby's case, who have listened gravely and courteously to all the witnesses and allowed the defence to submit last-minute documents.

On the known evidence, it's almost certain they will find Corby guilty when they hand down their verdict next Friday, and on past history it's likely they will sentence her to a lengthy jail term. Indonesia has tougher drugs penalties than Australia, up to and including death.

Perhaps it's the sentencing disparity that has galvanised so many Australians rather than the question of whether she has been justly tried. Sirait has dubbed her trial "ordinary"; yet it's one that has provoked an extraordinary reaction in Australia, a reaction that is likely to roll on for some time.

Although there are questions against the methodology of the police, I think she would probably be found guilty in most countries. When you are found with drugs in your bag at an airport there has to be a lot of evidence in your favour to overturn the assumption that you are guilty, and there simply doesn't seem to be that much evidence in this case. There are a lot of arrests for smuggling into the UK in which the accused make similar claims of bag tampering, but without hard proof, they are found guilty. I imagine there are similar cases of smuggling into Australia.

As for the sentence, although I am against the prohibition of cannabis, I also believe that if you are involved in the drugs trade for anything other than personal use then you need to accept the risks involved. This, of course assumes that she is guilty.

[EvileYe]

@dugg

Doesn't answer the question as to why someone would import marijuana into Bali, when it is readily available and cheaper to buy than in Australia.

The smuggling is usually the other way around. IE: Bali to Australia.

She has in my opinion been used as an example by the Indonesian authorities.

Walk down any main street in Kuta Beach, and you will be approached multiple times to buy any type of drug you might care for, including Heroin. Why aren't these street peddlers targeted by the Indonesian police ? Because they are corrupt, and receive gratuities from the dealers. There are 2 laws in Indonesia, one for the locals and one for the foreigners.

I believe Schapelles only chance for freedom now, is to escape ! God Help her !