Tag: Bali (page 3)

Update: Video here.

Update: Schapelle Corby has been released. She's in this photo with the black and white plaid head covering. Some video here. Here's a picture of the media scramble as she left. She was whisked into a prison bus, where she will be taken to the prosecutor's office to be processed, a 40 minute drive, and then to the Bali Corrections Board office, a thirty minute drive, where she'll be met by her parole officer and then released.

Schappelle Corby will be released today from Bali's Keborkhan prison. The head of the prison said the release papers have arrived and she will definitely be leaving through the front door of the prison today.

The media is out in force waiting at the prison door. More than 100 police officers are on hand to ensure her safety.

9 years, 4 months and 2 days.

Boycott Bali.

When British matron Lindsay Sandiford was sentenced to death in Bali last week, I said my sympathies weren't all with her because it appeared after she got busted, she worked with police to set up four innocent people up to take the fall as her suppliers in the syndicate, by claiming they orchestrated her smuggle. She knew if charged, they be facing the same penalty: death. And she did it anyway. Luckily for the others, the cops seem to have figured out she wasn't telling the truth.

The reasons I doubted her story are here.

Three of the four were sentenced before her to relatively light terms -- 5 years, 4 years and 1 year -- all for possession of minor amounts of drugs they had in their homes at the time of arrest. They were cleared of being involved in Lindsay's smuggling deal. [More...]

This is how Indonesia carries out its death penalty:

The death penalty is carried out in Indonesia by firing squad, normally in the middle of the night in a remote place, illuminated by flood lights. The public are not allowed to witness executions.

Members of the police force’s elite Brimob paramilitary brigade make up firing squads. They consist of 12 armed soldiers however only three of them actually have live rounds in their weapons – the rest have blanks. Nobody knows who has the live rounds and who has the blanks. This is to ease the conscience of the firing squad and so that no-one knows who fired the killer shot.

The condemned person is tied to a wooden cross or post and the spot of their heart is illuminated on a vest they wear to guide the firing squad. The prisoner can elect to wear a hood or not and can have a religious person present until the last moments.

113 people were sentenced to death in Indonesia in 2012. (This study says 114 are on death row.)At least 8 will be executed in 2013. 40 of those on death row are foreigners. 5 foreigners have been executed for drugs.). Some inmates have taken 7 minutes to die after being shot. They lay there screaming in pain, according to witnesses. [More..]

Even though Lindsay Sandiford cooperated with police, ratting out others (who may not have been involved), and even though prosecutors asked for a 15 year sentence, a court in Bali has sentenced 51 year old Sandiford to death for smuggling 5 kilos of cocaine in from Bangkok.

I told the whole sordid story here, including how Sandiford led police on a wild goose chase for 6 days trying to do a controlled delivery and lay the drugs off on someone. Her victims: a British couple with a 6 year old daughter. [More...]

Rachel Dougall and Julian Ponder are the latest victims of Indonesia's drug laws. They moved to Bali from Great Britain. They have a 6 year old daughter Kitty, who may soon become an orphan. [More...]

The Australian Foreign Ministry has issued a warning to Australians: Stay away from Bali.

Indonesia's counter-terrorism unit killed five suspected terrorists in a shoot-out on Bali last weekend. According to Indonesian authorities, the men were planning terror attacks, and a bar patronized by Australians was on the list.

Why now? Alleged Jemaah Islamiyah bombmaker Umar Patek, is on trial now in Indonesia for the 2002 Bali bombings and facing a possible death sentence. [More...]

Edward Norris Myatt is 54 years old, originally from Ballarat in Victoria, Queensland Australia. He's been living in England in recent years, working as a construction worker and selling jewelry. (There's a Myatt Jewelers in Victoria, I have no idea if they are connected.)

I think the pictures tell the story.

Here's the sign that hangs in Bali's airport:

Myatt gets stopped at the airport, they suspect he has swallowed pills, so they arrest him and take him to the hospital where he spends three days, waiting to expel 72 capsules. Then they do their perp walk for the media. (Video here.) Not only does he have to wear an orange shirt, the shirt announces he's a prisoner. ("Pelaku")[More...]

Paris Hilton is tweeting up a storm about how much she loves Bali. It's her first visit. She tweeted a few hours ago, "Make a wish. 11.1l.11"

Since I've stood up for Paris on TalkLeft so many times during her various legal difficulties, I thought I'd ask her a favor. I tweeted her in reply:

[More...]

The 'Bali Nine' are learning their fate in Bali this week. Two have been sentenced to death. The rest, who were mules, were sentenced to life imprisonment. Renee Lawrence cooperated with authorites and prosecutors asked for her to receive a 20 year sentence. The judges sentenced her to life as well.

Boycott Bali. A country that sentences teens with no prior record to life in prison and young adults to death is a country with an inhumane system of justice that does not deserve to have tourists -- or your dollars.

Time to Boycott Bali. Indonesia rules out a prisoner transfer to Australia. What neanderthals they are over there. Schapelle got 20 years. Here's the translator's edited transcript of the verdict and sentencing. Here's the Austrlian news blog's description of the reaction in the courtroom. Is this sentence really better than life? I'd say it is a life sentence...Schapelle's life as she knew it is over. And who lives 20 years behind the walls of a foreign prison? We live-blogged the two hour verdict reading (along with Blaghdaddy in the comments) as best we could given the awful audio feed from the courtroom to the Australian media which kept going in and out - and the sporadic translation.

• 11:41 a.m. She's guilty, has until next Wednesday to appeal. Australian Government says it has to accept the verdict.

• 11:38 a.m. The Judge has been reading (screaming) for two hours. He's not done, but it's all over for Schapelle. Shorter version: She must be convicted because drugs are a menace to Indonesia and police are more credible than civilians.

• 11:31 a.m. Judge says evidence is pointing to her guilt. Mentions lack of fingerprint testing and excuses it. They've considered Schapelle's defense that she was a victim of drug traffickers....but because importation of drugs hurts Indonesian people....

Update: Guilty. We live blogged the verdict listening to an Australian tv network's webcast and live feed of the two hour reading here.

Update: We'll be bumping this post until the verdict is read Friday morning in Bali. Latest news article. Live reporter's blog will be here. Watch this video chronicling case from arrest to now. This is the prison where she is being held.

If she's convicted, an immediate appeal will be filed. Schapelle has a letter prepared for the Indonesian President asking for a pardon.

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Schapelle Corby finds out today whether she will be acquitted or sentenced to death or life in prison, when three judges render a decision in a case in which she is charged with smuggling less than 10 pounds of marijuana into Indonesia while en route to Bali for a vacation.

Update: Guilty. We live blogged the verdict listening to an Australian tv network's webcast and live feed of the two hour reading here.

Bump and Update: Drug Activists in Indonesia are calling for the death penalty for Schapelle Corby...for allegedly importing 9 pounds of pot into Bali. They say the Government should make an example of her. As we explain in the original post below, Schappelle maintains her innocence and is awaiting the judges' verdict. We will be bumping this post frequently as new information becomes available to call attention to her plight.

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Original Post: 5/12/05

Actor Russell Crowe has taken up the cause of an Australian beautician imprisoned on drug charges in Bali, Indonesia.

Crowe said: "The photographs of Schappelle Corby broke my heart. "I don't understand how we can, as a country, stand by and let a young lady rot away in a foreign prison. That is ridiculous. "It is Indonesia, fine and dandy, but we need to find a rational platform to save this girl's life."