Bali Nine duo arrive on execution island amid Australian pleas for mercy
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Version 0 of 1. Two Australian men on death row in Indonesia have arrived on the prison island where they are due to be executed, while the Australian government insists there are still legal avenues available to spare the lives of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. The convicted drug smugglers, who were sentenced to death for their role in the so-called Bali Nine syndicate, were moved from Bali’s Kerobakan prison on Wednesday morning and flown to the port of Cilacap. Inside armoured vehicles, they were placed on a ferry for the short trip to Nusa Kambangan, the island where they are to be put to death along with eight other drug offenders. The Australian government has refused to give up hope that their executions can be stayed, though the prime minister, Tony Abbott, conceded that: “it does look like the Indonesian position is hardening”. “I don’t want to flag what might happen should these executions go ahead,” Abbott said on Wednesday morning. “Even at the 11th hour, I hope there might be a change of heart in Indonesia and these executions might be stopped.” “What I don’t want, though, is to hold out false hope,” he added. “There were some suggestions earlier that perhaps at least some people in the Indonesian system were having second thoughts. But I am afraid those signals seem to be dissipating.” The Australian foreign minister, Julie Bishop, has been in contact with her Indonesian counterpart, Retno Marsudi, and the Indonesian vice-president, Jusuf Kalla, overnight. She confirmed that a planned trade mission to Indonesia had been called off, saying the timing was inappropriate and that the trade minister, Andrew Robb, would look at upcoming trips and assess them case by case. Bishop has labelled the impending executions “unacceptable and unthinking”. “I am continuing to plead with President Widodo for a stay of execution and for him to show mercy and forgiveness for these two young men who have been rehabilitated in the most extraordinary way but also who still have legal avenues open to them,” she said. “I am dismayed by the reports that preparations are being made for their executions. I know the families and the young men will be utterly devastated by this news. I will be speaking to the families again during the course of the day.” Chan and Sukumaran’s family have consistently pleaded for the Indonesian authorities to save the duo’s lives. The men have undergone rehabilitation since being arrested in 2005 for attempting to smuggle heroin. Related: Bali Nine member Martin Stephens says Indonesia's death penalty destroys hope “While there’s life there’s hope, and we need to exhaust every legal avenue here,” shadow foreign minister Tanya Plibersek said. “We must have the time for the judicial commission to do its work, for the administrative legal considerations to be gone through thoroughly. It is important that we use all of our formal and and informal communications to continue to these points.” Police arrived at Kerobakan prison at 3am on Wednesday in preparation to transfer the pair. They positioned a water cannon outside the jail. Just before 4am local time, an armoured military vehicle arrived on the scene. Just before 4.30am, a police mobile brigade vehicle arrived at the jail and reversed into the building. An Australian consular officer and prosecutors arrived just after the heavy vehicle and entered the jail. Earlier, the prison’s governor, Sudjonggo, said he had supper with Chan and Sukumaran until 9pm, where the men asked what they were allowed to take with them to Nusa Kambangan. Sukumaran, who has become an artist during his nine years in jail, would take pencils and a drawing book. Chan, who has been ordained as a Christian minister, would take only clothes, Sudjonggo said. Both men would take Bibles, he said Related: Indonesians should be too familiar with death to support executions | Laksmi Pamuntjak At midnight, a handful of former art students of Sukumaran and other supporters held a small prayer vigil at the prison door. They lit candles and remained in silence. The pair will get 72 hours’ notice of their executions. The men’s lawyers said they had just lodged an appeal in a Jakarta administrative court that would ordinarily give his clients the right to a two-week schedule of hearings. In addition, the judicial commission had requested statements from Chan and Sukumaran in relation to a complaint about bribery in their first trial. But the attorney general, HM Prasetyo, argued presidential clemency was the last stop in the legal process, and it had already been denied. Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo, did not give reasons for the rejection, but has vowed to send all death-row drug offenders to the firing squad as part of his anti-drugs policy. Along with Chan and Sukumaran, seven foreigners and one Indonesian will be executed. |