Lawyers for an Australian woman imprisoned in Indonesia for drug smuggling appealed her conviction and 20-year jail sentence yesterday, saying that the judges ignored evidence that marijuana was planted in her bag during her journey to the resort island of Bali.
A Bali district court last week found Schapelle Corby, 27, guilty of smuggling 4.1kg of marijuana into Bali in a surfboard bag in October. The sentence angered many Australians who believe she is innocent and has prompted some to call for a boycott of Bali -- long a favorite vacation destination for Australians.
Corby's lawyers claim the drugs were hidden in her bag by baggage handlers in Australia as part of a domestic drug-smuggling operation and that the marijuana ended up in Bali by mistake.
"We object to the sentence of the court which says my client did this," said Corby's lawyer, Erwin Siregar, who filed the appeal to the Bali High Court in the island's capital, Denpasar.
Siregar said the judge didn't consider the testimony of defense witnesses who said they didn't see marijuana inside Corby's bag when she left Brisbane, nor evidence that the drug belonged to someone else.
Prosecutors, who demanded a life sentence, said they were not satisfied with the 20-year sentence and that they also planned to appeal to the higher court.
Scores of other foreigners convicted for drug-smuggling in Indonesia are either serving life sentences or are on death row.
Corby's plight has transfixed Australia, but she has little sympathy in Indonesia where the government is under pressure to crack down on rampant drug use that kills scores of young, mostly poor people each year.
Before the trial, the Australian government pressed Jakarta not to impose a death penalty and to allow Corby to serve any prison sentence back home.
Canberra has offered to send senior lawyers to help Corby's appeal and said it will negotiate with Jakarta for a prisoner transfer.
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