SYDNEY - Australia's prime minister on Monday ruled out making a personal appeal to Indonesia's president to intervene in the case of an Australian woman convicted of smuggling drugs into Bali.
The 20-year sentence for marijuana smuggling handed last Friday to Schapelle Corby by a court on the Indonesian island sparked outrage in Australia, where opinion polls show the vast majority of people believe the 27-year-old's tearful claims of innocence. "Emotional though people feel about this, we are dealing with the judicial system of another country," Prime Minister John Howard told Sydney radio station 2GB. "It would be an impossibly stupid, counterproductive thing, to ring up the president of Indonesia ... asking him to superimpose his judgment."
After saying last Friday they would appeal the conviction and sentence, Corby's legal team said Monday it is still considering its options. "We're having a lot of discussions about how we're going to proceed on that," Corby's lawyer Robin Tampoe told Australian television's Nine Network. "It's possible she could end up with life after an appeal and - worst case scenario - they could impose a death sentence. So we're being very careful," he added.
Prosecutors who had demanded a life sentence for Corby already have said they will appeal the sentence as too lenient.
Some Corby supporters have called for tourists to boycott Bali to protest her plight, but politicians who have worked hard in recent years to strengthen Australia's relationship with Indonesia are rejecting the criticism of its northern neighbor. "Continuing to berate and denigrate Indonesia isn't going to help anybody in this case," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.
Australian diplomats are soon to begin formal negotiations to set up a prisoner transfer agreement that would allow Corby and other Australians serving time in Indonesian prisons to finish their sentences in Australia. |