Shock as woman gets 20 years for smuggling

A YOUNG Australian woman was sentenced to 20 years in prison yesterday for smuggling marijuana on to Indonesia's Bali island, triggering angry scenes in court and an unusual public expression of sympathy for a convicted drug smuggler from her country's prime minister.

The trial of Schapelle Corby, 27, has attracted massive media interest in Australia, where many people believe her claims that the drugs were planted in her luggage. Scores of family members and supporters - many of them Australian tourists holidaying on the resort island - attended court.

The beauty school student wept as the verdict was announced and then appeared to shout at the prosecutors. She then mouthed: "Just relax, it's OK" to her tearful parents. Her mother, Rosleigh Rose, yelled out "liar, liar" while other relatives shouted: "We are going to get you home. We love you."

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The Australian government immediately offered to send two senior lawyers to help Corby's appeal and said it would launch formal negotiations with Jakarta on a prisoner transfer pact.

"Guilty or innocent, I feel for this young woman," said the Australian prime minister, John Howard. "I ask that we all pause and understand the situation and recognise and respect that when we visit other countries we are subject to the laws and rules of those countries."

Indonesia, which, like other countries, including Australia, imprisons scores of foreigners for drug-smuggling each year, says it sees no need to grant Corby any special exemptions. Her plight could complicate the improving relations between the two countries, who have co-operated closely in the fight against terrorism and in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami.

Judges at the Denpasar district court said the defence had produced no convincing evidence to back its claim that the 9lb of cannabis found in Corby's bag at Bali airport last year was planted by baggage handlers in Australia as part of a domestic drug smuggling operation and ended up in Bali by mistake.

The judge, Wayan Suastrawan, said customs officers had testified that Corby looked "nervous" and "tried not to open the bag" when asked to by customs officials. "She was arrested red-handed at the airport," he said.

After judges issued the sentence, Corby was allowed to hug her weeping parents before being led away to jail by about 20 police officers. Outside the courtroom, Corby's sister, Mercedes, said the family would appeal against the verdict.

"This is not fair," she said. "We will get Schapelle home."

Corby could have faced the death penalty under Indonesia's anti-drug laws, which do not distinguish between marijuana and other harder drugs such as heroin or cocaine.

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It was unclear if prosecutors, who had asked for a life sentence for Corby, were also planning to appeal, as is permitted under Indonesian law.

Ahead of the court hearing, lawyers for Corby said she was "terrified".

"She's probably the worst I've ever seen her," her lawyer, Robin Tampoe, told Australian television's Nine Network. "She tries to put on a brave face but there was a lot of crying."

Phone-in polls on radio and television stations show that Australians are convinced Corby is innocent. At the Occidental Hotel in central Sydney, lunchtime drinkers crowded around a large-screen television watching the court hand down its sentence.

"I think it's disgusting," said Abbie Francis, an English woman who has lived in Sydney for three years. "I think there is far too much doubt to have ever convicted her."

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