News Digest

‘Bali 9’: Indonesia rebuffs closing bids to delay executions

Indonesia said the execution of nine drug traffickers would go ahead this week, rebuffing last-minute appeals from Australia and the Philippines to spare their nationals and ignoring a decision by the Constitutional Court to hear a final challenge. Australia began the day with a plea for a stay in the execution of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, saying reports that their trial had been tainted by corruption needed to be investigated. Indonesian President Joko Widodo brushed that off, telling reporters that such concerns should have been conveyed a decade ago when the case when through the courts. Indonesia has harsh punishments for drug crimes and resumed executions in 2013 after a five-year gap.

It’s a matter for Indonesia’s Judicial Commission to investigate these matters and that underlines why we continue to request Indonesia to allow the Judicial Commission to finalise its review.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop

Widodo’s steadfastness on the executions, which has strong public support at home, stands in contrast to a series of policy flip-flops since he took office six months ago. Palace insiders and government officials portray him as sometimes out of his depth and struggling to get around entrenched vested interests. The ringleaders of the so-called Bali Nine, were arrested at the main airport on the holiday island of Bali in 2005 for trying to smuggle 8 kg (17.6 lb) of heroin to Australia. The other members of the gang, all national Australians, have been jailed for between 18 years and life in Indonesia.