No Hope: Bali 9 drug smugglers sent to island for execution

Two convicted Australian drug smugglers were removed from a prison in Bali on Wednesday and taken to an Indonesian island where they will be shot by firing squad, Australian media reported. Media outlets reported that Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan were in one of two armoured vehicles that left Kerobokan Prison pre-dawn on Wednesday and were taken to Bali’s Denpasar airport for the trip to the island of Nusakambangan, where executions are carried out.

I am revolted by the prospect of these executions. The position of Australia is that we abhor drug crime but we abhor the death penalty as well, which we think is beneath a country like Indonesia.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott

The planned executions of Myuran Sukumaran, 33, and Andrew Chan, 31, have ratcheted up diplomatic tensions amid repeated pleas of mercy for the pair from Australia and thrown a spotlight on Indonesia’s increasing use of the death penalty for foreigners. Chan and Sukumaran were convicted in 2005 as the ringleaders of the so-called Bali Nine, who were arrested at Denpasar airport for attempting to smuggle 8 kg (18 lb) of heroin to Australia. Widodo has adopted a tough stance against drug traffickers, denying clemency to 11 convicts on death row. Executions were resumed in 2013 after a five-year gap and nationals from Brazil, Malawi, the Netherlands, Nigeria and Vietnam have been among those put in front of a firing squad.

There were some suggestions earlier that perhaps at least some people in the Indonesian systems were having second thoughts but I’m afraid those signals seem to be dissipating.

Tony Abbott

World Bali Nine