Two Australians convicted on drug smuggling charges were yesterday transferred to an Indonesian island where they are to be executed, while Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Australia was “revolted” by their looming deaths after frantic diplomatic efforts to save them.
Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, convicted as the ringleaders of the so-called “Bali Nine” drug-smuggling gang, were woken and given a few minutes to get ready before leaving Bali’s Kerobokan jail in the early hours, local justice ministry official Nyoman Putra Surya said.
The men, sentenced to death in 2006 on charges of trying to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia, said “thank you” before leaving, he said.
Photo: Reuters
“We handcuffed them and they were quiet,” he added.
Michael Chan attempted to see his brother, Andrew, before the transfer, but prison officials denied Andrew entry.
“Today is not visiting day,” Surya said.
More than 200 police officers and soldiers — with water cannons — were stationed outside the Bali prison as the men, in their early 30s, were driven out through a crush of journalists.
The pair were flown to Cilacap, in Central Java, on a chartered flight accompanied by military aircraft.
Two armored vehicles escorted by elite police officers then boarded a boat at the local port to cross to Nusakambangan island, home to several high security prisons and where the pair are to be executed, a reporter at the scene said.
The men recently lost their appeals for presidential clemency, typically a death row convict’s last chance to avoid the firing squad.
Officials have yet to announce a date for their executions, but the transfer indicates it is imminent.
Indonesian Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo said that final preparations, such as training the firing squads, were still being made before a date could be set for execution of the Australians and several other drug offenders.
Authorities must give convicts 72 hours notice before they are executed. Convicts from France, Brazil, the Philippines, Nigeria and Ghana also recently lost appeals for clemency, and speculation is mounting that they will be included in the next round of executions.
Abbott, who has repeatedly called for Jakarta not to proceed with the executions, said Australians were sickened by the developments.
“We frankly are revolted by the prospect of these executions,” he said, adding that “right now millions of Australians are feeling sick in their guts.”
Abbott said he hoped there might be a “change of heart in Indonesia,” but added: “What I don’t want, though, is to hold out false hope.”
However, he added: “I hope that even at this late hour, the better angels of the Indonesian peoples’ nature will reassert themselves.”
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