Schapelle Corby Revisited

Schapelle Corby was convicted in an Indonesian court of smuggling 4kg of marijuana into the country in her boogie board bag.

When she was arrested and the facts began to surface, I voiced my opinion that she was innocent. Probably not a wise move as at the time I had as a major client an American anti-drug organisation. I lost the account.

My lawyer said she was guilty. The Indonesian justice system said she was guilty. The Australian newspapers said she was guilty. Eventually I capitulated, but I did feel that a 20 year sentence was perhaps a tad harsh, particularly in light of the fact that the Bali Bomber got only four years (of which he served less than 26 months).

However, it appears there are still people out there who are standing up for convicted drug smuggler Schappel Corby who is quietly going mad in an overcrowded, stinking Indonesian prison.

Among them are the publishers of The Expendable Project who make numerous points well worth  consideration if ever you had even the shadow of a doubt about the outcome of the case.

It is worth taking into account the long list of drug associations of family members and friends which Wikipedia outlines. This in itself does not prove guilt, but there's an awful lot of smoke!


Postscript Nov 2011

A new book on the subject has just been released.
"Sins of the Father by Sun-Herald journalist Eamonn Duff adds a myriad detail to the circumstances surrounding Australia's most polarising criminal cases since Lindy Chamberlain's conviction."

It leaves little doubt of Schappelle Corby's guilt.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/we-agree--corby-is-guilty-says-publisher-20111109-1n6fw.html

Uprising

Hamza Ali al-Khateeb was a 13yo boy arrested by Syrian authorities during a demonstration. His body was returned to his parents only when they signed an undertaking to not reveal or comment upon the manner of his death. They refused to keep silent, and have presumeably been arrested to suffer a similar fate.

The family released an horrific video detailing the extent of the boy's injuries which include numerous cigarette burns, bullet holes in his knees, a shattered jaw and a broken neck. The Syrian government thugs then cut off his penis, before killing him.

Hamza on Facebook

Hickups

An item in the SMH today caught my eye when it described the audience at the Sydney Writers' Festival as 900 credulous fools. The speaker was the notorious David Hicks, an Australian incarcerated and tortured at Guantanamo Bay, and he was given a standing ovation.

The Sydney Writer's Festival seems an unlikely gathering point for 900 credulous fools, but that's how the author of the piece, Ted Lapkin, describes them. Ted, bless his cotton socks, works for the authoritative-sounding Institute of Public Affairs, which according to that pinko publication Wikipedia, is an advocate of free market economic policies and by sourcewatch.org (anti-tobacco, so probably another commie front) as "a right-wing, corporate funded think tank based in Melbourne."

Interestingly, the name John Roskam is linked to the IPA, for whom he writes. In an article titled Turning up the heat on climate change alarmists he quotes one Professor Bob Carter numerous times. Turns out Carter is also a member of the IPA.

Corporate-Funded indeed. Listed among its contributors are ExxonMobil, BHP Billiton, Phillip Morris, Murray Irrigation Limited, and Visy Industries.

The IPA has published articles "critical of scientific research on the dangers of passive smoking" and "adopts a position of climate change scepticism".

These are the real climate change tragics.

And as for David Hicks - well, I wasn't at the lecture and I've not read the book, but when the good guys use torture on the ones they call the bad guys...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Public_Affairs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_M._Carter

Postscript Feb 1202
An article in the SMH mentions that sensitive documents unwittingly revealed by US conservative think tank The Heartland Institute list among those it has made payments to include Australian scientist Bob Carter.

Human Rights in China

Timed to coincide with Christmas in order to further sideline Western interest, the Chinese government is putting one of the writers of Charter 08 on trial on the charge of inciting to subvert state power, a charge which is routinely used to jail dissidents and carries a penalty of up to 15 years incarceration.

Charter 08 is translated in full at Human Rights in China

On December 25th, the court sentenced Liu Xiaobo to 11 years imprisonment.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports:
"Liu, a former Beijing Normal University professor, spent 20 months in jail for joining the student-led protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

More than 300 international writers, including Umberto Eco, Salman Rushdie and Margaret Atwood, have urged his release."

Merry Christmas, Mr Lui.