RUSSELL CROWE - CROWE STEPS UP HIS FIGHT TO FREE AUSSIE DRUG SMUGGLER

RUSSELL CROWE is stepping up his fight for an imprisoned Australian beautician who has spent the last six months in an Indonesian prison on drug smuggling charges after hearing that a man who could prove her innocence has been stabbed.

The OSCAR winner appeared on Australian broadcaster JOHN LAWS' radio show, urging officials to step up their efforts to free SCHAPELLE CORBY.

Crowe said, "The photographs of Schappelle Corby broke my heart.

"I don't understand how we can, as a country, stand by and let a young lady rot away in a foreign prison. That is ridiculous.

"It is Indonesia, fine and dandy, but we need to find a rational platform to save this girl's life."

Corby was arrested and imprisoned last October (04) when marijuana was found in her luggage during a trip to Bali, but the desperate beauty school student has maintained her innocence ever since.

Her plight suffered somewhat last week (ends06MAY05) when another Aussie Indonesian inmate, who testified that a gang used Corby's luggage to stash the drugs, was stabbed in jail and put in solitary confinement for his protection.