Australia ratchets up pressure on Indonesia over executions

Indonesia owes it to Australia not to execute two Australian drug offenders on death row, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Wednesday, ratcheting up a diplomatic war of words that is threatening to sour relations between the neighbours. Australia has been pursuing an eleventh-hour campaign to save the lives of Myuran Sukumaran, 33, and Andrew Chan, 31, two members of the so-called Bali Nine, convicted in 2005 as the ringleaders of a plot to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia.

I don’t want to prejudice the best possible relations with a very important friend and neighbour. But I’ve got to say that we can’t just ignore this kind of thing.

Current Prime Minister Tony Abbott

Indonesia has harsh penalties for drug trafficking and resumed executions in 2013 after a five-year gap. The case has enormous resonance as a domestic political issue in Australia, and Abbott ratcheted up the rhetoric at the weekend amid a growing campaign to boycott travel to Bali, a destination favoured by Australian tourists.

World Bali nine