Jakarta Globe, Rizky Amelia, February 18, 2014
Jakarta.
Paroled Australian drug trafficker Schapelle Corby could find herself back
behind bars if she goes ahead with a planned tell-all interview slated to run on
an Australian news network, an Indonesian official warned on Tuesday.
The
interview, for which Corby was allegedly offered more than $1 million, was
scheduled to run as a Channel Seven news exclusive, according to reports byAgence France-Presse. But discussing her sentence, and eventual parole, could
prove to be too controversial for Indonesian officials.
Lawmakers,
angered by what they called a weakening of the nation’s strict anti-drugs
stance, have already lobbed criticism at the Ministry of Justice and Human
Rights over the marijuana trafficker’s release. The claims that Corby would
profit handsomely from telling her story only fanned the flames in Indonesia,
prompting the nation’s Justice and Human Rights Minister Amir Syamsuddin to
publicly urge Corby to turn down the cash.
“Corby is
not allowed to do any activities that can make people feel uneasy or trigger a
sense of injustice in society,” Amir said last week.
Accepting
the payout, an exorbitant sum by anyone’s standards, would likely play poorly
in front of the Indonesian public and could be a violation of Cobry’s parole
terms, Amir said. On Tuesday the ministry’s deputy minister Denny Indrayana
upped the ante, threatening to revoke her parole one week after her release.
“We are
considering revoking the parole,” Denny said.
Any action
that disturbed the greater public could be grounds to place Corby back behind
bars, he explained.
“The
factors [for the revocation] are causing a stir in public, such as the
interview, [receiving] money, and the interview content, which could create
negative polemics,” Denny said.
The
interview, for now, is only a rumor, Denny said. No one at the ministry had
been informed that it will actually occur. But the suggestion that Corby stands
to become a millionaire have proven controversial in Australia as well.
Australian Federal Police raided Channel Seven on Tuesday, reportedly in
connection with the interview negotiations.
Corby was
released from Bali’s Kerobokan Prison on Feb. 10 after spending more than nine
years behind bars for attempting to smuggle 4.1 kilograms of marijuana through
customs. She was sentenced to 20 years in jail in 2005, but saw the sentence
reduced by annual sentence cuts and a presidential decision to slash five years
off the term.
She will
have to remain in Bali until 2017 under the terms of her parole.
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