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Indonesian Fanatics Terrorise Australian Pot Girl

Author: Jonty Skrufff
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Anti-drug campaigners burst into the trial of Schapelle Corby in Bali this week, carrying placards calling for the Australian beauty student's execution. The 27 year old Australian faces a possible sentence of death by firing squad if convicted of smuggling 4.1 kilograms of marijuana into Indonesia, though has consistently claimed the drugs were planted in her luggage..

One of the fanatics carried a sign which displayed an axe dripping in blood, while another screamed at the judge "there is already one person executed in Bali for 2kg of marijuana. I don't want to see Corby go free for bringing 4.1kg." (Herald Sun, Australia).

Civil liberties group Foreign Prisoner Support Services have launched a campaign to help Ms Corby, who has been locked up since she was arrested at Bali International Airport in October (in the same grim jail the Bali bombers were held in before they were convicted). Another 27 year old Australian, Richard Jonathon Wardill, 27, also remains in jail in Indonesia after being caught allegedly buying four ecstasy pills from two women in the street in November (though he faces six years in prison if convicted).

Both cases reflect the increasing dangers western tourists face in Indonesia where authorities recently announced plans to introduce 5 year jail terms for public snogging, topless sunbathing and dirty dancing ("hip-swivelling').

"I think there must be some restrictions on such acts because it is against our traditions of decency," legal expert Mrs Aisyah Hamid Baidlowi told the Singapore Straits Times last April, "Because this is a predominantly Muslim country".

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