No bail for right-winger Hanson
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Hanson and Ettridge pictured at the height of One Nation's popularity.
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SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) -- The founder of Australia's right-wing One Nation party, Pauline Hanson, has been refused bail while she appeals against a three-year jail sentence for electoral fraud.
Hanson, a former fish and chip shop owner who shot to prominence in 1996 when she railed against Asian immigration and Aboriginal welfare, will remain in jail until her appeal begins in November.
Hanson and party co-founder David Ettridge were found guilty by a court on August 20 in the state of Queensland of fraudulently registering One Nation in order to get political funds.
The unexpectedly harsh sentence has seen her popularity soar, with some Australians feeling she has been made a political scapegoat, prosecuted for expressing her views.
Her lawyers had argued before the Queensland Supreme Court that her sentence could possibly be cut after the appeal is heard, and that she should therefore be released now on bail.
But Supreme Court Justice Richard Chesterman said in a 10-page ruling on Monday that it was impossible at this stage to make any predictions about the outcome of the appeal.
"It (bail) has been refused," a court official said.
Hanson's far-right One Nation rode a wave of xenophobia and political disaffection to win a million votes in a 1998 election. Ironically, Hanson lost her seat in parliament at the same poll.
Since then, both Hanson's and the party's political fortunes have been in steady decline.
Copyright 2003
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