Jakarta Globe – AFP, Feb 17, 2015
Sydney. All of Australia’s surviving former prime ministers united on Tuesday in a last-ditch plea for Indonesia to spare the lives of two men on death row, as legal efforts to save them intensified.
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| The Attorney General Office has decided to postpone the scheduled execution of eleven inmates, including Australians Andrew Chan, left, and Myuran Sukumaran, right. (AFP Photo/Jewel Samad) |
Sydney. All of Australia’s surviving former prime ministers united on Tuesday in a last-ditch plea for Indonesia to spare the lives of two men on death row, as legal efforts to save them intensified.
Andrew
Chan, 31, and Myuran Sukumaran, 33, were sentenced to death in 2006 over their
roles as ringleaders of a plot to smuggle heroin from Indonesia’s Bali island
to Australia.
They are
set to be transported to a high-security prison on the island of Nusakambangan
this week ahead of their execution, but no date has yet been announced.
Several
other foreigners on death row whose clemency appeals have also been rejected,
including from Brazil, France, Ghana, Nigeria and the Philippines, are also
expected to be transferred soon.
Australia
has urged Indonesia — which faced a diplomatic outcry last month when it
executed six drug offenders including five foreigners — not to proceed,
particularly while last-ditch legal measures are being pursued.
“They
committed a very serious crime but have demonstrated genuine rehabilitation,”
said John Howard, whose conservative government began efforts to save the pair
from the firing squad during his term in office.
“Mercy
being shown in such circumstances would not weaken the deterrent effect of
Indonesia’s strong anti-drugs laws.”
From
Malcolm Fraser, prime minister from 1975 to 1983, to his successors Bob Hawke,
Paul Keating, Howard, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, all the former leaders
provided their support for clemency in comments to The Australian newspaper.
“We are
very much opposed to the death penalty in Australia,” said Fraser.
Hawke said
justice should be based on human understanding.
“These two
men made a mistake when they were young and foolish,” he said. “They have
served their incarceration with model behaviour, and I therefore urge and plead
that the government reconsider its decision to now take their lives.”
Gillard
added: “I personally would find it heartbreaking if such extraordinary efforts
to become of good character were not met with an act of mercy, of recognition
of change.”
Rudd, who
succeeded Howard as Australia’s prime minister in 2007, said as a “deep,
long-standing friend of Indonesia” he would “respectfully request an act of
clemency.”
Keating
also added his voice, saying the death penalty was a “monstrous act which
provides no atonement for the crime” and in this case was out of proportion to
the offenses committed.
Current
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has already spoken strongly against the planned
executions, warning Jakarta that Canberra will make its displeasure felt if
they go ahead.
“Like
millions of Australians, I feel sick in the pit of my stomach when I think
about what is quite possibly happening to these youngsters,” he said on Monday.
Chan and
Sukumaran’s lawyers said their transfer to Nusakambangan should not occur while
a legal case was ongoing, with a court date reportedly set for next week to
look at claims Indonesian President Joko Widodo did not follow the rules in
rejecting their clemency bids.
“They
cannot transfer, they cannot move Chan and Sukumaran, let alone kill them,
while the legal process is going on,” Todong Mulya Lubis told the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation.
Joko has
been a vocal supporter of capital punishment and has vowed a tough approach to
ending what he has called Indonesia’s “drug emergency”.
Agence France-Presse
Related Articles:
Ban appeals to Indonesia to stop death row executions
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| United
Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has pleaded to Indonesia to stop the execution of prisoners on death row for drug crimes. (AFP |
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