Australia awaits climax to Corby's drug trial in Bali

Australia awaits climax to Corby's drug trial in Bali

Benito Lopulalan, Agence France-Presse/Denpasar, Bali

Part diplomatic incident, part courtroom drama and part scandal- filled soap opera, the drug smuggling trial of a young Australian beautician reaches its climax in Indonesia this week with a verdict that will have her nation on the edge of its seat.

Schapelle Corby faces possible death by firing squad or, at the least, a long stretch in a squalid cell if convicted on Friday of trying to smuggle 4.1 kilograms (nine pounds) of marijuana into the resort island of Bali last year.

While Corby is the latest in a long line of foreigners tried for drug offenses in Indonesia -- several of whom have been executed in the past few months -- the frenzy of interest in her fate is unprecedented.

Pleading innocent from the outset, the 27-year-old has amassed an enormous following at home, with supporters championing her cause despite a flimsy defense case that looks unlikely to sway notoriously tough Indonesian judges.

Australia's government has also waded awkwardly into the case, lobbying against the death sentence, jetting in a witness to give evidence that was pure hearsay and pushing for a one-off prisoner exchange deal to repatriate Corby.

Its level of involvement has transformed the trial from a cautionary tale of foreign travel to an incident that could unravel recently-improved Australian and Indonesian ties.

Often strained relations between the two countries have benefited from assistance offered after last year's tsunami and the October 2002 Bali bombing, in which 88 Australians were among the 202 victims.

But outrage expected to follow any guilty verdict will put new neighborly bonds to their toughest test, while a promised Australian tourism boycott could be the nail in the coffin of Bali's terror and SARS-hit holiday industry.

Belief in Corby's claim that the drugs were placed in her luggage by a drug smuggling syndicate appears to be overwhelming in Australia, often bordering on the fanatical.

A controversial television show titled "Schapelle's Nightmare: The Untold Story" involved a studio audience vote that overwhelmingly found her innocent, while a website, www.dontshootschapelle.com, has attracted thousands of hits.

More alarmingly, the Indonesian embassy in Canberra received death threats linked to the case while a radio presenter incurred a backlash for suggesting Corby was supported because she is "young, white, pretty and has big boobs".

Presenter Derryn Hinch, pointed out that there has been comparatively little coverage or empathy for non-Caucasian Australians also facing drugs charges in Asian countries.

The unrelenting media spotlight on Corby recalls the landmark 1981 trial of Lindy Chamberlain, who was jailed and later acquitted of murdering her child in the Australian outback despite her insistence it was carried off by a wild dog.

Chamberlain's plight was dramatized in the Hollywood film "A Cry in the Dark", starring Meryl Streep, who was nominated for an Oscar performance that included the immortal line: "The dingo's got my baby".

Checkbooks have already opened in Australia for Corby's story, although most of the drama has been captured by the scores of cameras that have jostled into the courtroom in Bali's capital Denpasar over the past few weeks.