Posted: Fri May 27, 2005 11:47 am Post subject: Australian guilty on drugs charge
An Indonesian court has found Australian woman Schapelle Corby guilty of smuggling drugs into the country.
She was sentenced to 20 years in jail; prosecutors had demanded a life sentence and she could have faced the death penalty.
Corby, 27, says her luggage was tampered with, after she was arrested in October with 4.1kg (9lbs) of marijuana in her bags at Bali airport.
Her case has aroused widespread public sympathy in Australia.
Corby fought back tears and there were screams from her supporters in court, as the verdict and sentence were announced.
"Judges are of the opinion that the accused imported marijuana," Judge Wayan Suastrawan said.
"She was arrested red-handed at the airport."
The beautician from Queensland had continually pleaded her innocent to the charges against her, claiming that baggage handlers in Australia put the drugs in her luggage as part of a smuggling operation that went wrong.
More than 100 Australian journalists had travelled to Bali to report on the case and the judges' two-and-a-half summing up was carried live on Australian TV.
Prior to the court ruling, Australian Prime Minister John Howard had called on people to accept the verdict.
He said that although everyone "feels for this girl", it was necessary to "trust the Indonesian justice system". "We have to respect the justice system of other countries," he said.
Canberra had urged Indonesian prosecutors not to ask for the death penalty.
There have been calls for the government to press for her to serve her sentence back in Australia.
But Indonesia has said that won't be possible.
Many Australians now say they would boycott Bali, a destination desperately in need of tourists after the disastrous impact of the October 2002 bombing.
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