20 years in prison for smuggling marijuana

An Australian woman has been convicted and sentenced to 20 years in an Indonesian prison for smuggling &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/fun/2002/01/23/25942.html ' target=_blank>marijuana onto Bali island in her surfboard bag Schapelle (shuh-PEL') Corby fought back tears as the verdict was announced. The maximum penalty for a conviction was death, but prosecutors had requested a life sentence.

Corby's case has drawn intense interest in &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/world/2003/02/18/43458.html ' target=_blank>Australia, and the court was packed with dozens of Australian journalists, Corby supporters and her relatives, including her mother and father, tells KASA.

According to Reuters, sanding to hear the verdict and wearing pink trousers and a black blouse, Corby occasionally slapped her forehead with her palm in grief. She struggled to contain her emotions and at times became angry.

Prosecutors had demanded life in jail for Corby, 27, who has repeatedly argued the drugs found by airport officials in her unlocked bag on the famous holiday island last year were not hers and that they were planted.

Corby's family said they would appeal.

Earlier, officials whisked Corby into the court through a side entrance, avoiding scores of journalists.

"She's probably the worst I've ever seen her," Corby's Australian lawyer Robin Tampoe earlier told Australian television on Friday ahead of the court session.

The court had leeway to disregard the prosecutors' demand and sentence Corby to death if she was found guilty.