No one saw Amanda Knox this Friday morning in Perugia- no one with a camera that is. The hearing was off limits to reporters. Some saw a closed prison van pull up at a side door that was blocked by police, and others saw several vans pull into an underground entrance to the courthouse, but they didn't see Amanda.
Inside the courtroom the hearing lasted less than an hour and then she was whisked away back to Capanne prison. The reporters got a few scraps of information from the inside after the hearing, most notably from her lawyers, but there was nothing much of news except that a new date of November 8 was set for arguments to be heard- and the way she looked.
The word from inside was that she looked "drawn and pale" and looks to have gained weight. One of her lawyers, Luciano Ghirga said "She has hardened herself, she has become more unhappy and less serene". While her lawyers are trying to get her through the slander circus her appeal awaits a short distance ahead on November 24th. One or the other would be enough but the two together appears to be taking it's toll on Amanda's health. Photographs taken of her last June show her in short cropped hair and looking tense with light circles under her eyes just beginning to show. And of course the pressure continues with the slander issue continued on Nov 8th and her appeal later that month.
It must be a roller-coaster of emotions as important court dates come and go, and then continued with no certain closure in sight. She has held up well in the past under pressure but lately things seem to be wearing her down. Another of her lawyers Maria del Grosso said recently: "She is very down. I've told her to be tough. It won't help to fall apart now". Perhaps the best thing for Amanda at this point in time would be to try and stay focused on what is really important- such as her appeal on Novemeber 24. The slander case is not of prime importance compared to the appeal- but it is in fact just one more thing to set one's nerves on edge. Almost a form of harassment designed to keep the pressure on. It's like running a gauntlet where the whips are replaced with tension, fear, doubt, and loneliness; Like a bad dream where you can't wake-up.
At the same time as the Italian legal machine moves slowly along, one has to wonder as concerns Amanda, an innocent young woman, how much can she take- how much is enough?
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