Jakarta Globe – AFP, Jan 19, 2015
Sydney.
Canberra is pursuing efforts to save two convicted Australians from the firing
squad in Indonesia, Foreign Minister Julia Bishop said on Monday after Jakarta
executed six drug offenders.
“The prime
minister [Tony Abbott] has written again to President [Joko] Widodo,” Bishop
said. “The Australian government will continue to make representations at the
highest level.”
Brazil and
the Netherlands recalled their ambassadors from Indonesia and expressed fury on
Sunday after Jakarta put to death two of their citizens along with four other
drug offenders from Vietnam, Malawi, Nigeria and Indonesia.
The six
were the first people executed under President Joko Widodo, who took office in
October and has voiced strong support for capital punishment.
Joko’s
stance has raised fears for other foreigners sentenced to death, particularly
two Australians who were part of the “Bali Nine” group caught trying to smuggle
heroin out of Indonesia in 2005.
One of the
pair, Myuran Sukumaran, had his clemency appeal rejected last month but
authorities say he will be executed with fellow Australian Andrew Chan as they
committed their crime together.
Chan is
still awaiting the outcome of his clemency appeal.
Bishop
skirted round questions of Australia withdrawing diplomats from Jakarta, noting
they were required to stay to plead with the government.
She said
the foreign ministry had recently replied to her own letter “rejecting our
representations on the basis that Indonesia claims it is facing a crisis in
terms of drug trafficking and it believes that the death penalty should apply.”
“It is a
long-standing position of Australian governments that we oppose the death
penalty and we oppose the execution of Australian nationals by another
country,” she said. “I don’t believe executing people is the answer to solving
the drug problem.
“However,
this is Indonesian law and it is a sober reminder that drug related offenses
carry very, very heavy penalties in other countries, particularly in
Indonesia.”
Joko
pledged in December there would be no pardons for drug traffickers on death
row, including foreigners.
Agence France-Presse
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