Schapelle Corby granted parole
The Indonesian Justice Minister has announced that Schapelle Corby has been granted parole after nine years in a Bali prison.
Amir Syamsuddi fronted a media conference and announced that Corby's review has been completed but said he did not want to talk specifically about the Australian's case.
A press release handed out to reporters after the conference confirmed Corby's parole application had been approved because she had fulfilled all the substantial terms as required under Indonesian law.
An official press release later issued by the Justice Minister has since confirmed Schapelle Corby is among 1291 parole cases that have been completed.
The justice ministry's press release read: "On 30 January 2014, the Parole Board Team in the Corrections Directorate General heard 1798 prisoners for participation in the parole program.
"One of the prisoners recommended to undergo that program is Schapelle Leigh Corby, a prisoner of Australian citizenship.
"Corby has been approved to receive parole because (she) has fulfilled the substantive and administrative requirements as set by the Minister of Law and Human Rights Regulation Number 21 Year 2013 on the Requirements and Procedure for having Remission, Assimilation, Family Visit Days Off, Parole, Days Off Prior to Release and Limited Days Off."
It is not known when she will be released, but she is expected to live with her sister Mercedes in Kuta, southern Bali.
Outside Kerobokan jail, prison governor Farid Junaedi said Corby would be out "soon".
Mr Junaedi said the timing of her release depended on paperwork, which he hoped would be processed quickly.
"If they are signing it now, then we cannot hold it any longer," he said.
"As soon as I receive the letter, then I have to release her soon."
But even if the letter was sent on Monday, he said there was still a lot of processing to do.
Earlier, the governor of Bali's Kerobokan Prison says it would be "impossible" for Schapelle Corby to be released from jail Friday, even if she was granted parole.
Farid Junaedi, who spent at least two hours with Schapelle and her family in a meeting with Australian Consulate officials, said there was no official word about whether Corby's parole had been approved as speculation mounted ahead of an announcement expected around 6:30pm Sydney time on Friday.
"We are still waiting. I am yet to know about the process in Jakarta. We are now just waiting. I haven't receive the letter as of now," Junaedi said.
"So, it is impossible that the release will be conducted today."
Earlier on Friday, Mercedes Corby and her husband were in Bali's Kerobokan Jail for a two-hour visit, with Mercedes saying she was hopeful her sister would be freed soon as she tried to force her way through the pack of waiting media.
"Almost ten years she has lived here. Almost one and a half years waiting for parole," she said, swamped by reporters on her way out.
"Can you please give us some privacy."
"We don't know yet."
Mercedes had at first refused to speak to reporters, but gave in as the pack jostled around her and husband Wayan.
"We have been waiting. Almost a year and a half she has been eligible for parole," Mercedes said.
"We are hopeful,"
"We are waiting for it to be signed."
Mercedes' husband, Wayan, said the couple had met for two hours with Corby in prison today.
They were having a meeting with Australian consulate staff and the Kerobokan Prison governor to discuss the details of Corby's release.
Wayan, speaking in Indonesian, told reporters there was no news at that stage.
"We don't know when she will be released. We keep on praying and, like all of you, hoping for the best," he said.
"We have met Schapelle. She is healthy, she is happy, but we don't know yet," he said.
"As of now there's no news yet to be about parole. We don't know, we just can pray. She's not guilty."
Wayan said the family was reluctant to speak before the decision "in case we make a mistake".
Mercedes, clearly frustrated at the media's behaviour, thanked an Australian reporter who urged everyone to back away from the couple.
She said the parole application had been a year and a half in the making, and came after her sister had been imprisoned for nine years.
The couple then asked that the family's privacy be respected as they hope and wait for an announcement from the Indonesian Justice Minister regarding Schapelle's release.
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Indonesian Justice Minister Amir Syamsuddin was on Thursday petitioned by Indonesian MPs not to be lenient in the case of Corby, who was convicted with smuggling 4.2 kilograms of cannabis into Bali.
But he insist the Australian would be treated in the same way as the other 1700 applicants for parole whose cases he is considering.
Farid Junaidi, the governor of Kerobokan Prison where Corby is jailed, earlier said that if the minister granted parole, he would receive the decree by post.
After receiving the letter, he said there is still a process that must take place.
"From there, we deliver it to the prosecutor or BAPAS (the Corrections Socialisation Board)," he told reporters at the jail late on Thursday.
"From there then she could get out."
Mr Junaidi said if the letter arrived on Friday afternoon, Corby could be released on Monday morning.
Corby would not be freed outside of office hours or at night "like a thief", Mr Junaidi said.
"I don't want to make anyone troubled," he said.
"I don't want to make simple things complicated."
Corby, 36, has been behind bars since her arrest at Bali's Ngurah Rai Aiport in 2004, where she was caught carrying more than four kilograms of marijuana into Bali in a body board bag.
Corby, who had pleaded not guilty, was sentenced to 20 years in Kerobokan Prison in May 2005.
The former Gold Coast beauty student has always maintained her innocence.
Her sentence had been slashed by five years after Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono granted her clemency on humanitarian grounds in 2012.
Corby’s latest application for parole was then heard in private by Indonesian authorities in the capital Jakarta last week, as revealed by 7News.
The parole hearing was the last major hurdle for the 36-year-old convicted drug smuggler before she was released from Kerobokan Prison.
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