I thought this article went into the details of the case much better than the rest. There have been some murmurings about her family's less than law abiding past and this article does touch upon that.
http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/bulletin/si...A257009007873E1
I think much of the sentiment around this story is being driven by the fact that she is young, pretty and helpless in hostile surroundings, and we have an instinctive protection mode around such things - a la Jessica Lynch. If Schapelle was goth, tatooed and homely I doubt we would have seen a similar reaction. There are many Australians up on drug charges in various parts of Asia and no one else has received this much attention.
That said, I don't know if she's guilty or not. I agree there are many circumstantial bits that would seem to suggest she's innocent, but at the end of the day she was caught redhanded with, 4
kilos (a freaking lot) in her bag.
Australian law professors point to Indonesian legislation, which states the accused must be presumed innocent. But chief judge Linton Sirait has explained the ruthless reality: it is up to the defendant to prove his or her innocence. And Sirait has said Schapelle’s lawyers have failed to do that.
I'd like to see her sentence carried out in an Australian jail at least. Australians are free to vote with their feet and boycott Bali - I just hope some of the redneck rhetoric (calling the judges 'monkeys' and savages) dies down.
Flame of Liberty - you though KL was in the dark ages? You ain't seen nothing yet. There are a number of CPers here who have travelled extensively - why don't you ask them why travelling opens their eyes to the world beyond the narrow North American view of things?