Thursday Oct 13 18:18 AEST

A distraught Schapelle Corby wept in her cell as a Bali court revealed it cut five years off her jail sentence because it believed her original 20-year term for drug smuggling was too harsh.

When the news was broken to Corby by her family and lawyers at Kerobokan Prison, the former Gold Coast beauty student "was crying, choking", defence lawyer Erwin Siregar said. Siregar said defence lawyers would lodge an appeal to the peak Supreme Court in Jakarta immediately and would also ask for a teleconference to allow fresh witnesses in Australia to back Corby's claims of innocence.

"After we explained that, she stopped crying, however she disagreed with the decision and she feels that the Australian government has left her."

Siregar said Corby, 28, had taken the decision hard and the prospect of living in squalor until she was middle aged was overwhelming her. He said he believed even a 15-year sentence was the equivalent of death. "Maybe she will kill herself if she gets 15 years," Siregar told reporters.

But Corby's sister Mercedes, who visited her sibling, said her sister would not consider taking her life. "She won't take her own life, she's too strong for that, she's not going to be in here for 15 years." However she expressed concern for her sister's long-term health. "There's not a high life expectancy for people staying in here."

Mercedes Corby again urged the Australian government to help her sister. "She didn't have a fair trial and they won't interfere for an Australian citizen but they interfere in every other country's business," she said.

Leaving Kerobokan jail after a visit, Schapelle Corby's mother Rosleigh Rose and her partner Greg Martin said Corby was holding up well. "It's hard but we will keep fighting for as long as it takes," Martin said.

The Bali High Court shortened Corby's sentence to 15 years following a protracted legal appeal and several trial reopenings in the lower Denpasar District Court.

"Judges consider that the 20-year sentence is too heavy for the defendant because what is important is a narcotics group one marijuana which is less lethal than other narcotics in group one," the Bali High Court judges said in a 17-page summary obtained by AAP. They also said the Gold Coast woman had not benefited from her crime. Drugs classed as group one narcotics in Indonesia also include heroin and cocaine.

Siregar said Corby was very worried about the possibility of a prosecution appeal against the reduction in her sentence.

Prosecutor Ni Wayan Sinaryati said "I have not had a chance to look at the appeal court decision, but once we have had a look we may appeal."

Friday Oct 14 18:42 AEST

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer torpedoed a deal to slash convicted drug smuggler Schapelle Corby's 20-year jail term in half with "irresponsible" comments about her case, Corby's legal team says. Lead lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea said he would fight on like a "kung-fu teacher", even though he was doing the case for free and it had already cost him as much as a new Ferrari.

The High Court decision was "inhumane" because no other prisoner in Indonesian courts had ever received more than five years for possessing less than 10kg of marijuana. Hutapea said he would begin lodging an appeal to the peak Supreme Court in Jakarta on Monday and the plea would be filed within a fortnight. He said judges in the Bali appeal court had been ready to deliver a 10-year cut by knocking back Corby's trafficking sentence to a lower charge of drug possession, but he accused Downer of ruining the deal when the foreign minister spoke in Sydney on August 19 of rumours Corby's sentence would be halved.

Downer also said there was no way of confirming the rumours.

Hutapea, speaking at a press conference in Jakarta attended by Corby's sister Mercedes and Indonesian film celebrity Sophia Latjuba, said: "Canberra ruined this case by issuing a very bad public statement. "Unfortunately ... your foreign minister, the foreign minister of Australia, make a very irresponsible public statement to the public, and very speculative to the public, by saying that the High Court already issued a decision by cutting 10 years. Because of Downer's comments, local reporters had rushed to see the court chief Made Lingga, angering the judges.

"This attitude really ruined our strategy, because it looked like somebody from us leaked out the information," the flamboyant millionaire counsel said. "We don't understand what is the motive of Alexander Downer."

Hutapea and co-lawyer Erwin Siregar said a letter to the Supreme Court requesting a teleconference to hear new evidence from Australia on who really owned the marijuana found in Corby's luggage would create a new legal precedent or "breakthrough".

Normally the court only considers evidence already presented to the lower courts.

Siregar said the Bali prosecutor would also lodge a counter-appeal challenging the sentence reduction.

Mercedes Corby said Downer's comments and the diplomatic wrangling over her sister's case had turned Corby into a political prisoner, rather than a drug convict.

"Australian Federal Police in Australia never searched her car, her house, anything," she said. "They are just letting her take it. Maybe she is more of a political prisoner now than another prisoner. Our government should be doing something to help."