Schapelle Corby - BLOGGERS...WHAT ARE WE DOING??
Posted by alsinger at 00:26, 29 Mar 2005Bloggers, please.. if you read this and see any validity in what I am saying and if you feel that we as a community can actually do something to make the world a better place to live in... then please send this on to three other BLOGGERS
Foreign Prisoner Support Service
Schapelle Corby is the young Australian lady who has been detained in an Indonesian jail for the last 20 or so weeks, having been charged by Indonesian authorities with the importation of cannabis to Indonesia. It is alleged that Schapelle attempted to "smuggle" a very very very (ludicrously) large bag of cannabis into Indonesia in her "Boogie Board" bag.
Schapelle is either guilty as charged... or she is the most unfortunate and unwitting victim of the drugs being "planted" in her luggage by person's unknown AFTER Schapelle said "au revoir" to her luggage at the airline check-in counter.
Leaving aside our opinions on whether we may think that Schapelle is innocent or guilty. let us for a moment look at what any reasonable person would need to see established as evidence in order for a guilty finding to be made.
The fact that the cannabis was in her luggage does not in my view prove ANYTHING other than the drugs were in her boogie board bag. The presence of the drugs in the bag DO NOT prove that they were Schapelles drugs or that she put the drugs in her bag. In order to establish guilt, there would need to be (in my view) incontravertable evidence that she purchased or otherwise obtained the drugs in Australia prior to her departure. Unless there is rock solid evidence linking Schapelle to the drugs prior to her bags being checked at the airport then Schapelle IS INNOCENT.
In my view, if there is ANY possibility that the drugs could have been placed into her luggage AFTER she checked her bags at the airline counter, then the doctrine of "reasonable doubt" and "innocent until proven guilty" must apply. Now, what are the chances that Schapelle's luggage could have been "accessed" between the airline counter at her port of departure and picking her luggage up from the luggage rotunda at her port of arrival. Has Schapelle's legal defence team brought in an AIRLINE PROCESS EXPERT to describe all the handling of Schapelle's luggage that occurred between departure and arrival? I am no airport luggage handling expert but I can imagine that there would be many, many opportunities for numerous individuals to slip a package (for whatever reason) into ANYONE's luggage - including Schapelle's, yours, mine or my kids!
I had a very scary experience myself some years ago when I left Dubai to go to London by air. When I arrived in london and unpacked my suitcase, three of my almost full bottles of cologne had been replaced with half empty bottles of WATER! (My first hint that something was wrong was when I saw that the lock on my hard-shell Sampsonite bag had been broken!) So, based upon my own experience and the balance of probabilities, there is every possibility that Schapelle's luggage had been accessed and the drugs planted (possibly as is being claimed for the purpose of intra-Australia travel).
So, what does this mean for us - well, if Schapelle is innocent and the drugs were "planted", then every Australian travelling to Indonesia is at risk of a similar fate - mean having drugs planted in your luggage.
And further, if the Indonesian authorities find Scapelle guilty purely on the evidence that the drugs were in her bag, I say that is a travesty of justice and an absolute deadly THREAT to every Australian who travels to Indonesia. It is a threat because the Indonesian authorities are saying, in effect, that if you come to our country, you will lose your right to justice as we in Australia know it - why on Earth would ANYONE ever want to go to another country on that basis... below is a short extract from the Sixty Minutes Television documentary on Schapelle Corby...
LIZ HAYES: Under Bali drug laws, possession is everything. The bag was Schapelle's, the drugs were Schapelle's unless she can prove that somebody else put them there. So now it is up to her legal team to try and establish her innocence because, as far as the Bali authorities are concerned, the case is closed. She's guilty.
November 14, 2004
Reporter: Liz Hayes
Producer: Katheryn Bonella, Nick Greenaway
Here is an article from the Melbourne Age titled "New Evidence May Clear Schapelle Corby"
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Comments
24 June 2004
4 years 35 weeks
...on Schapelle Corby.
Yesterday Ankh posted the email addresses of Kevin Rudd and Alexander Downer so that we could write and tell them that we are worried about this case.
I have done so.
I think at this stage it is better to send letters to members of Parliament that to other bloggers as the information needs to get to the source immediately as time is running out.
Please also write to the paper in your state.
shadows
30 March 2005
6 years 43 weeks
What is happening to this young Australian woman is terrible, is breaking my heart and feel I need to do something to assist and support her in someway. It shows how well our airports are monitored and supervised. I am extremely impressed by the gentleman from the Phone Company on the Gold Coast for offering his assistance to poor Shapelle and it is a pitty that more Corporate Businessmen don't assist people that are going through injustices like this. If anyone can give me some ideas on how I can assist Shapelle, please offer some assistance and thank you.
24 June 2004
4 years 35 weeks
Hi Suzanne,
There is another blog on Schapelle where Ankh has put email addresses for Alexander Downer and Kevin Rudd.
It would be terrific if you could email them.
shadows
29 March 2005
6 years 38 weeks
Alan Singer (Australia) Headhunter - for politicians adresses
yes, thank you shadow - you are absolutely right - we need to let the "people at the helm" know that we are "not happy". So, as you will see, I have taken your advice.
Thank You
29 March 2005
6 years 45 weeks
If anyone has the email address of Australian politicians of any persuasion, please email them to me to place on my website. I would like a letter that anyone visiting my site can send to the polotician of their choice. My address for this is SaveSchapelle@myesk.ws
I'll put up as much as I can to help as I believe the girl should be innocent until proven guilty, not the other way around.
30 March 2005
6 years 22 weeks
Up until very recently, Indonesia had all the characteristics of a dictatorship. That regime's residue is a culture of corruption, and widespread desperate poverty.
I am certain that every Indonesian in this fiasco knows, in his soul, that importing cannabis into Indonesia from Australia makes about as much financial sense as importing ice into Antarctica from Somalia. But to admit to this, to actually apply common sense, is at best to preclude oneself from a bribe, and at worst tantamount to suicide in such a bloodthirsty society.
Situations like these, where an obviously innocent woman is shamelessly persecuted, almost justifies the damnation of all Moslems to eternal Hell after death in this life.
24 June 2004
4 years 35 weeks
It is possible to discuss this situation without condemning all Muslims to eternal hell in the hereafter.
For your information Indonesia is only applying it's law in this case.
If you don't like the law, help do something to change it.
Join Amnesty International and work with them.
I don't like the death penalty either but I won't condemn an entire country of people because of it.
And I've worked against it for 40 years.
shadows
30 March 2005
6 years 22 weeks
I took leave of my objectivity, when I acknowledged the final destination of all Moslems. Sorry.
Good on you for battling a good cause for forty years.
However, I am not convinced that these fellows are simply applying their national laws. It seems to me that common sense has intentionally been ignored in this case. And these common sense oversights cannot be without motive.
She has to prove her innocence. Why didn't the Bali bombers have to? And had they been Balinese (and not Moslem), would the penalty have been the same?
24 June 2004
4 years 35 weeks
Actually they have to prove her guilt.
And having the stuff in your luggage is pretty good evidence for that.I don't know how they are going to get her out of it.If I was the prosecutor I would say case proven.
But we can only hope.
As far as I am concerned it is only marijuana anyway so it doesn't deserve a penalty.
shadows
29 March 2005
6 years 45 weeks
To help others contact as many politicians as possible, I have placed a list of Australian politicians email address on my website. While the list is not current it has enough current addresses to really help. Before opening the list, I suggest that you write an appealing letter in Word and copy that to your clipboard. Open the list, click on an email address to open your email programme, paste your copy into the body of the email and send. Do this as many times as you wish. Go to the opening page of http://www.myesk.ws
5 April 2005
6 years 44 weeks
Maybe just of naivety. But if the law of that country is clear on death penalty for drugs, then ignorance is no excuse.
Is it true she worked in a Hostess Bar in Japan, and just married the guy for a visa? Sounds like she knows her way around Asia a bit, and is not the cute little gold coast princess she is being portrayed as. I think there has been a deliberate disinformation campaign to suppress this information.
24 June 2004
4 years 35 weeks
djawa it sounds like you are judging Corby by her behaviour.I read that she was married for 3 years and recently separated.
All of that does not make her guilty.
You are holding a kangaroo court because you think her morals are bad.
If she knew her way around Asia then she would have had enough sense not to try and get marijuana into Bali because the penalty for such an action is death.
If she was a bloke would you still have the same opinion?
shadows
6 May 2005
6 years 40 weeks
She would not need to marry to get a visa. There are many other ways to find a Visa... and are much easier than getting married, like teaching English
19 May 2005
6 years 34 weeks
Aren't you all missing the point? It doesn't matter SQUAT how the Indonesian justice system works, nor how far the Australian govt is prepared NOT to go in defence of her, nor Scapelle's personal details in terms of her past, her 'character' or any of it. The FACT is that she was caught and this is enough to have her convicted by Indonesian law.
IF she is innocent and was in fact set up, then her sentence is a tragedy. But what if she was, in fact, dumb enough to try to pass that amount of dope through Indonesian customs? - and it was a huge amount, let's face it. No one will ever know the truth because, even if Scapelle is freed and allowed to return to Australia, her lies would mean shame and dismissal.
Indonesia has the right to determine its own drug trafficking and usage law whether we, as Australians, agree or not. If you CHOOSE to go to Bali (or Thailand or Singapore), then you also choose to behave or not. If not and you are caught, then bad bloody luck.
The days of 'easy' dope in Bali are long gone. You can still get it, sure; meet some 'cool guys' on Kuta Beach, go home with them and have a smoke but chances are that they are actually from Java and make a 'cool' living from being police informants. The Denpasar jail accommodates quite a lot of their victims. It's all about money and control and isn't confined to Asia either (just try it in the USA or Australia for that matter).
At 27, Scapelle is no 'child'. I doubt that she's overly bright and, after looking at videos of her parents, probably deprived as well. Her 'looks' may have won her some sympathy and support but won't mean a thing in the long run. She'll become yesterday's news at the end of this month if she's convicted and sentenced to a life sentence in Denpasar - YUM! Hope she gets to like the daily fare of rice and tempe because that's all your 'roomboys' ever get to eat.
I have no opinion one way or the other whether she is innocent or guilty and I really don't care. She, like all Australians, knew the risk and yet she chose to take it. But keep on with the good work trying to free her if it makes you feel more empowered. Our Tsunami relief effort is connected to this case, how? By donating a billion dollars, does this mean that Australians can now travel to Indonesia with the status of diplomatic immunity?
A word of advice from an aging 'hippy': when you get that passport and leave Australia, BEHAVE! It's ok to go without dope for 2 weeks, you can still be cool. Drink BINTANG!!!!
27 May 2005
6 years 37 weeks
Asians? What would they know about justice? What was Howard thinking when he said that we should respect the Indonesian justice system? What justice system? Any court that doesen’t take seriously the cheap talk that a petty criminal happened to overhear whilst in jail is seriously just not up to scratch.
Imagine it the other way round, if an Indonesian citizen had been caught at Sydney airport with 3 kilos of gunga, and the same kind of witness had turned up for the defence saying that he had overheard something whilst in prison in Indonesia: The case would be over so quickly that there wouldn’t even have been time for a good ol’ media beat up. Too bad other Australian citizens who have been convicted for drug trafficking offences in south east asia, such as Tran Van Viet and Le My Linh, were not somehow deemed worthy for the same media attention.
What is this world coming too?
19 May 2005
6 years 34 weeks
'what is the world coming too?' Democracy is what we fight for, isn't it? Schapelle is a moron and available to all you Aussie blokes at Cell#14. Bring your Grade 3 Spelling books with you!
19 May 2005
6 years 34 weeks
Too bad Scapelle was caught in Indonesia, isn't it. "what would Asians know about justice" sounds a tad racist to me. I'll bet you are a body surfer who goes to Bali for 10 days and calls Balinese "slopeheads". Schapelle is such 'a chick'. Tough call in a Balinese jail. LOL