Nick Baker Rally

[AssKissinger]

New rally coming according to the e-mail

we are pleased to
note that the next appeal trial hearing has been set for Thursday June
17th 2004 at 10:30 am at the Tokyo High Court. There is a public gallery
and we need as may of you Tokyo-based supporters as possible to attend
to show the authorities the extent of support for Nick's case.

[GomiGirl]

Well I know that people are wanting to help him, but honestly is a public gallery full of rowdy foreigners going to help him in a conservative Japanese courtroom????

I doubt it...

[AssKissinger]

Well I know that people are wanting to help him, but honestly is a public gallery full of rowdy foreigners going to help him in a conservative Japanese courtroom????

I doubt it...

That was my first reaction as well but I guess he's so fucked if it brings him a little cheer they might as well go for it.

I think the only thing that could help him is if this got a lot of international bad press. Not very likely. And even then he would still in all likelyhood be totally fucked.

Steve made the best point awhile back. This guys strategy should be to just apologize and show remorse which would really go against the grain if he really was dupped.

[Taro Toporific]

[AssKissinger]

I hate to say this but I think he's probably guilty. If it was just weed I'd be more inclined to support him. But a kilo of coke? Japan already has enough problems without a bunch of cokehead school kids.

[Cobra]

I hate to say this but I think he's probably guilty. If it was just weed I'd be more inclined to support him. But a kilo of coke? Japan already has enough problems without a bunch of cokehead school kids.

I agree to a point. That is if it was weed also he is breaking the law. But sure 1kg coke is pretty heavy. and face it taking someone elses bags. also at customs when they open your bag they always say "are these your bags". I think he is guilty too. I also hate to say it. But then again I dont hate to say it cause its true. I mean if he wasnt guilty I would hate to say it cause I would hate to know he is in Jail for something he didnt do. But on the same token asskissinger I would not say I am "happy" either. Either way it is not a very nice situation I believe.

[dingosatemybaby]

[Taro Toporific]

[Cobra]

again why would you take someone elses bag through customs? no need for it. there is no kg restrictions for customs. also it is a well known fact that drug smugglers get someone else to bring their bag through customs.

I believe he is guilty. and all those E`s and Coke he deserves 14 years.
fuck they hang you in some countries.

besides remember what they did to those Japanese in Australia coming from a trip I think in Thailand. They spent years in Jail.

[Mulboyne]

Kyodo: Briton questioned in Japanese court during appeal of drug smuggling sentence
A 33-year-old Briton sentenced to 14 years in prison for smuggling drugs into Japan appeared in a Tokyo appeals court on Tuesday, saying he knew nothing about a key that was needed to unlock a suitcase filled with drugs, his lawyer said. Nick Baker, a landscaper from Stroud, Gloucestershire, was convicted in June 2003 for allegedly trying to smuggle more than 40,000 tablets of ecstasy into Japan in a suitcase with a false bottom.
...Prosecutors contend Baker was seen tossing the key into the suitcase as his luggage was being inspected by a customs official. Baker, who was shackled and appeared tired but healthy, took the stand and told prosecutors and defense attorneys he never had or knew anything about a key to the suitcase, reiterating testimony he has given before.
...During the 2-1/2-hour hearing, the court also heard the defense team's complaints about Baker's translator during early police questioning and rules that don't allow him to keep asthma medicine in his cell at a Tokyo detention center, according to a statement on an Internet site run by his supporters, http://www.justicefornickbaker.org/en/041207-01.htm.

[FG Lurker]

I have no pity or compassion for Nick.

He was idiotic enough to take someone else's bag through customs. CUSTOMS! How boneheaded can you be?!?

He should be thankful he was in Japan and not Thailand: [url=http://216.239.63.104/search?q=cache:7LIOBadbOXYJ:[url]www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/06/06/1054700391521.htmlhl=en]DEATH[/url] SENTANCE for FIFTEEN GRAMS of Heroin[/url]! She ended up getting 31 years instead of death... But 31 years in a Thai prison doesn't seem much different to death to me.

Ian

[kotatsuneko]

how come the ghost of AK isnt whispering out of the shadows anymore?

did howard the duck put some moxa on it?

[Captain Japan]

Press Conference: Shunji Miyake, Primary Lawyer for Nick Baker; Sabine C. Zanker, Senior Lawyer, Fair Trials Abroad
Foreign Correspondents' Club Japan

(18:30-19:30 Thursday, January 13, the speech & Q & A will be in English and Japanese with English interpretation)

Sabine C. Zanker is a senior lawyer for Fair Trials Abroad, an EU non-governmental organization that works on behalf of EU citizens embroiled in legal trouble abroad. When EU citizens claim that charges against them are unfounded, Fair Trials Abroad steps in to help. The group also works towards ensuring that a detainee's right to a fair trial under International Law is adhered to. This often means penetrating thick walls that separate one nation's concept of fair and just from another's.

Ms. Zanker is in Tokyo this week as an international observer of Nicholas Baker's appeal hearing. Mr. Baker was detained at Narita Airport on April 13 2002 carrying a false-bottomed bag that disguised 41120 ecstasy tablets and 900 grams of cocaine. He said the bag wasn't his. The judge, Kenji Katoya, thought otherwise and sentenced him to 14 years adding that Baker was part of an international drug smuggling ring. Fair Trials Abroad have been critical from the outset of how Baker's case has been handled by the Japanese legal system.

Appearing alongside Ms. Zanker will be Nicholas Baker's lawyer, Shunji Miyake. He has overseen the course of the defense strategy since the outset and is qualified to give the most authoritative legal and technical opinion on the case. He has traveled to both the United Kingdom and Belgium to seek evidence pertinent to Baker's appeal and has been vocal in his desire to reform aspects of Japanese judicial procedures, particularly the video and audio recording of police interrogations.

Members planning to attend this press conference are asked to reserve in advance, on-line (http://www.fccj.or.jp -- please log in to reserve) or at the Front Desk (3211-3161), so that the staff can make appropriate preparations. It's free of charge.

[Captain Japan]

[AssKissinger]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and make a bold prediction: Nick Baker will not be acquitted.

[FG Lurker]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and make a bold prediction: Nick Baker will not be acquitted.

14 years is perhaps overly harsh, but I don't think he deserves acquittal either. Anyone stupid enough to carry someone else's bag through customs deserves what he gets.

[Captain Japan]

[AssKissinger]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and make a bold prediction: Nick Baker will not be acquitted.

14 years is perhaps overly harsh, but I don't think he deserves acquittal either. Anyone stupid enough to carry someone else's bag through customs deserves what he gets.

I think all drugs should be legal and Nick Baker should be set free. I'm just saying I don't think it's gonna happen.

[FG Lurker]

I think all drugs should be legal and Nick Baker should be set free. I'm just saying I don't think it's gonna happen.

The legality of drugs or not is not the question here. Nor is the question whether they *should* be legal or not. If drugs were legal then people would find something else to smuggle instead. Counterfeit money, for example.

Obviously I've never met Nick, but I think he should be given a Darwin Award if he croaks during his 14 years in that Japanese prison. Really.

Let's say he was traveling with a good friend who he knew and trusted, and he was 100% sure that they were going to board the plane together. That friend asked him to check in some of his overweight luggage under Nick's luggage allowance and Nick agreed. That'd be pretty fucking stupid, but I am sure people do it all the time.

But to then go the extra step and actually take someone's luggage through customs? That's Darwin Award material.

[Buraku]

Baker is fucked
his story isn't straight and he is perhaps hiding the truth

but the J-Cops acted like wankers, the justic system is fucked
the keystone cops and let the real drug-runner go free, the Japan judges have an almost 100% conviction rate against the gaijins


there was some info on the Baker site

Iris Baker says: I believed and continue to believe my son deserves a fair trial in a proper courtroom, and all the Japanese and international legal and human rights organizations who have looked at Nick's case agree. I will not continue to debate points of the case on the internet, as <redacted> wants me to.

September 2004, I was made aware of a spam e-mail attack critical of the Nick Baker support network and myself.

The unsolicited e-mails' author was <redacted>, who apparently harvested e-mail addresses from my website and news sources to propagate his malcontent to media, politicians, and anyone he saw as sympathetic to Nick's support network and our campaign for a fair trial.

<redacted> is a businessman who publishes a free listings magazine and website in Tokyo, both of which seem to rely heavily on advertising from companies in Japan. He is currently writing a screenplay of The Mishima Incident. His spam mailing followed-on from an anti-Iris Baker editorial he wrote in his magazine and website the same month.

this is from the guy who sent us

Dear Japan Today subscriber

Today a virus was sent to the Japan Today Newsletter list in a mail with the subject line --[Japan Today] There're some Passwords here.--- Please delete the mail without opening the attachment.....

"The Se-xy story and 4 sex-y picture of BI-NL-ADEN !"


Thank you for reading Japan Today.

[veracotti]

Whether his conclusions are right or wrong, I care not, but ____ in the persona of "Booba", has been using his own JT empire for his one-man crusade against Baker's mum for ages now.

http://forum.japantoday.com/showProfile.asp?memid=8987 - (must be logged-in)
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=bbs&order=msg&author=booba

[Buraku]

Whether his conclusions are right or wrong, I care not, but ____ in the persona of "Booba", has been using his own JT empire for his one-man crusade against Baker's mum for ages now.

http://forum.japantoday.com/showProfile.asp?memid=8987 - (must be logged-in)
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=bbs&order=msg&author=booba

Oh man, that's messed up,
the JT site is even more odd than I first thought
so '<redacted> has been busy

http://www.fuckedgaijin.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10717
<redacted>- Hip Scottish Entrepreneur...or Uyoku?


Promoting his anti-American, Japan-school girl relationship, bash Bush stuff

Sent out a virus and few spams through the Japan Today Newsletter with titles like "The Se-xy story and 4 sex-y picture of BI-NL-ADEN !"

Has logged on using different anti-Baker names such as the persona of "Booba" used the JTempire for his holy crusade against Baker's mother

and now its

America from Japan ---that's an odd demographic. Gotta pay for that AP news feed.
But hey, it's an easy clone of the Japantoday site, so contentsu slice-and-dice. :P

$50 to ... the person who writes the highest-rated post of the day....

....What are you waiting for?
Get writing at http://www.americatoday.net

[Papa-Lazarou]

Sorry about going OT, but what are the penalties for possesion of Ecstasy (say 2 tablet) in Japan?

I errr know someone who has had a few close shaves

[Mulboyne]

Kyodo via Japan Today: Tokyo High Court to rule next week on Baker's conviction
A Briton who claims he is innocent of smuggling a record quantity of drugs into Japan in April 2002 will learn next week whether his appeal against the conviction has been successful. Nick Baker, 33, was sentenced by the Chiba District Court to 14 years in prison and fined 5 million yen in 2003 for trying to smuggle 41,120 tablets of ecstasy and 990 grams of cocaine through Narita airport, using a suitcase fitted with a false bottom. Baker claims the case containing the drugs belonged to his now deceased traveling companion who duped him into carrying the case through customs.

[amdg]

for trying to smuggle 41,120 tablets of ecstasy

That many? I did some rough calculation and that's almost 1 cubic meter of tablets.

[Tsuru]

Are you sure? In that case one tablet would be 100^3/41120=24,3cm3

An actual xtc tablet is more like 0,3cm3. Not that I would actually have any experience with that, obviously.

[amdg]

Are you sure? In that case one tablet would be 100^3/41120=24,3cm3

An actual xtc tablet is more like 0,3cm3. Not that I would actually have any experience with that, obviously.

I'm no good at math, and I'll be the first to admit it. The last X tab I ever saw was about the size of an asprin, so I took a jar of 100 asprin and calculated the volume with "pi x r2 x h" and came out with 230 cubic cm's.

So if 100 asprin (tabs) takes up 230 cubic cm's, then 41,000 tabs takes up ...

WHOOPS decimal place error. You're right

[veracotti]

More info about the verdict times etc., on the Baker site:

http://www.justicefornickbaker.org/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?num=1129810092/0#0

[Taro Toporific]

More info about the verdict times etc....]

Interpretation mistakes marring justice in Japan's courts
The Japan Times: Oct. 25, 2005
...Comparing the transcripts of Baker's testimony and the interpreter's words, Mizuno said it was obvious the interpretation wasn't going well.
One of the challenges of translating Baker's words, Mizuno pointed out, was his heavy Cockney accent, which meant he dropped his h's and t's and the "th" sounded more like "p." "Bottle" would sound like "bo'le" and "water" could be heard as "wa'er," she said.
In Baker's case, when the court asked him whether the bag containing the drugs was his, he answered "It ain't mine." The interpreter translated it as "I don't mind." When Baker said he had antibiotics, the interpreter said he had "drugs banned by Japan."

[homesweethome]

More info about the verdict times etc....]

Interpretation mistakes marring justice in Japan's courts
The Japan Times: Oct. 25, 2005
...Comparing the transcripts of Baker's testimony and the interpreter's words, Mizuno said it was obvious the interpretation wasn't going well.
One of the challenges of translating Baker's words, Mizuno pointed out, was his heavy Cockney accent, which meant he dropped his h's and t's and the "th" sounded more like "p." "Bottle" would sound like "bo'le" and "water" could be heard as "wa'er," she said.
In Baker's case, when the court asked him whether the bag containing the drugs was his, he answered "It ain't mine." The interpreter translated it as "I don't mind." When Baker said he had antibiotics, the interpreter said he had "drugs banned by Japan."

As somebody who has been there and done that I can tell you that the whole thing is rigged. The interpreter could have translated anything the defendant said as: 'You blow sunshine up my ass' and it wouldn't have made any difference at that point. Only on appeal is his only chance and that should be a given in a country where the court system really acts like one.

And what about the fact that the guy who persuaded him to take the baggage was wanted in several Euro countries on various drug charges? Committed suicide by 'jumping' off a rail platform in the U.K. during an unrelated trial? OMGWHF! Nobody seems to care about that, especially the J judge.

No, so very sorry. Try again Nick.