Bali Nine: Australia must widen death penalty opposition, says Philip Ruddock
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Version 0 of 1. Philip Ruddock, the attorney general at the time of the Bali Nine arrests for heroin trafficking in 2005, has said Australia needs a “fundamental review” of how it advocates for the abolition of the death penalty. In an interview with Guardian Australia, Ruddock, who was also the chief law officer when Melbourne man Nguyen Tuong Van was executed in Singapore in 2005, said he had personally raised the American use of the death penalty with the then president George Bush Sr when he visited Australia more than 20 years ago. “There needs to be a fundamental review in relation to our advocacy [against] the death penalty not only in relation to Indonesia but to the United States, China, Iran and Saudi Arabia,” he said. “We don’t have Australians on death row in the US, China, Iran or Saudi Arabia, but I think we need to be willing to be work on those issues.” Related: Bali Nine: officials given all-clear to move pair for execution Australia has been criticised for lack of strong advocacy on the death penalty apart from when its own citizens are on death row. Ruddock is a long-time opponent of capital punishment and called Nguyen’s execution for heroin trafficking “barbaric”. He was the lead signatory to a letter signed by more than 100 Australian politicians pleading for Indonesia to show mercy to Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who have been sentenced to death for their attempt to traffic heroin into Australia. The two men, ringleaders of the so-called Bali Nine, have exhausted legal appeals and their execution by firing squad is scheduled for this month. Bali officials have been granted permission to transfer the condemned men out of Kerobokan jail for their executions. On Thursday, Ruddock addressed the foreign affairs, defence and trade legislation committee following a parliamentary clemency motion for Chan and Sukumaran. The committee is believed to have visited the Indonesian ambassador, Nadjib Riphat Kesoema, to make a last-ditch plea for mercy. Ruddock defended the role of the Australian federal police in the arrest of the nine people involved in the trafficking attempt. The AFP tipped off its Indonesian counterparts about a potential drug trafficking attempt and passed on the names of most of the Bali Nine and their flight details, despite the offence attracting the death penalty. Seven drug couriers are serving lengthy jail terms for their involvement. The AFP has always defended its actions as inter-country police co-operation. In 2006, Justice Paul Finn ruled its actions lawful, but urged a review of policies that could expose Australians to the death penalty. The procedures were tightened in 2009. As attorney general, Ruddock formally withdrew Australia’s co-operation after the Bali Nine were charged because the offences carried the death penalty, but at that point Indonesia said it no longer needed Australia’s help to prosecute. “Where it is clear that the death penalty might be sought – that is, where you are seeking to extradite somebody – you would seek an assurance that they would not apply to use the death penalty before you deliver them up,” Ruddock told Guardian Australia. “But that has never been the case in relation to the sharing of information with police abroad.” He said it would be wrong for police only to share information with an assurance that the death penalty would not be sought before knowing what the offence might be. “An issue that might involve a terrorist act in Indonesia in which a large number of Australians might possibly lose their lives – would it be seriously argued we should not provide the Indonesians with information we have received which may have enabled the prevention of that on the basis that if they carried it out and they later arrested them … it might carry the death penalty?” The former foreign minister Bob Carr has called on the AFP to provide a “more compelling explanation” as to why it tipped off the Indonesian police. Ruddock said Australians should not give up attempts to save Chan and Sukumaran, but their executions were “getting perilously close, unfortunately”. |