The execution of two Australian drug smugglers on death row in Indonesia has been delayed by up to one month, the vice president’s office said yesterday.
Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla’s spokesman Husain Abdullah said the execution of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the ringleaders of the so-called Bali Nine heroin trafficking group, “will be delayed for between three weeks to a month from now due to technical reasons,” without elaborating further.
Indonesian authorities had already confirmed that Chan, 31, and Sukumaran, 33, would be among the next group of prisoners on death row to be executed, despite repeated appeals from Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott for their lives to be spared.
The two Australians were due to be transferred this week from Bali to a high-security prison on Nusakambangan Island ahead of execution, but that was delayed after appeals from Canberra that the men be granted more time with their families.
Indonesian authorities also cited logistical difficulties involving capacity at Nusakambangan as a reason for the delay.
Tony Spontana, a spokesman for the attorney-general’s office which oversees the executions, neither confirmed nor denied the statement from the vice president’s office, but insisted the prisoners would eventually face the firing squad.
“What needs to be underscored is the execution will still be conducted,” Spontana said.
Indonesia’s pledge to proceed with the execution of the Australians has strained ties with Canberra.
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