Bali Nine Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran to be executed together in Bal

Bali Nine ringleader Myuran Sukumaran says he deserves second chance in prison video

MYURAN Sukumaran has spoken frankly and passionately of his wrongdoing and of how he believes he deserves a second chance to continue doing good in the jail and eventually one day on the outside.
The interview, shot inside Kerobokan prison in May last year, is contained in a documentary being made by Karen Gall, who recently made its contents available as Sukumaran and Andrew Chan face execution by firing squad.
It comes as a painting of the Indonesian President Joko Widodo, which Sukumaran did after learning his clemency had been denied, was released. His sign off was simple yet poignant: “People Can Change.”

401551-63f8ffd6-c6f2-11e4-9504-1b97135f94e2.jpg


In the video interview, Sukumaran speaks with Norwegian educator Ivar Schou, with whom he worked inside Kerobokan prison setting up and running rehabilitation programs for prisoners and who has become a firm friend.
“I accept what I did was wrong and I know that I should be punished for it but I do think the death penalty is too excessive and I should be given a chance,” Sukumaran says as he talks with Mr Schou.
“I’ve demonstrated that I can do good and be good and I think I can do a lot of good in the outside if I did ever go free you know. It’s not like I’m ever just going to go back after all this and just sit and just be somewhere. I’d want to do stuff like work and make good stuff and help people, that's what I’d be hoping to do.”

Cont -

http://www.news.com.au/national/bal...-in-prison-video/story-fncynjr2-1227257401659
 
It's funny. I randomly caught the movie "return to paradise" last night. It's about this guy getting caught up in Indonesia with over 100 grams of hash. Without getting too deep into the plot one of the themes is that any media attention is very bad for the people sentenced to death as Indonesia has a face saving culture and will not back down in the face of challenges to its sovernegty. I wonder if the media whirlwind has sealed these guys fate. I wonder if a back door under the table approach might have been better. Though they may have tried that and only brought out the media big guns afterwards. Overall it's just a very sad situation for everyone involved. Here's to hopeing for a miracle.
 
Sir Richard Branson pleads for lives of Bali nine duo Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran and other drug convicts on death row

Sir Richard Branson has written a letter to Indonesia's President Joko Widodo, pleading with him to spare the lives of the Bali nine ringleaders and the other death-row prisoners who are awaiting execution by firing squad for drug offences.

The Virgin founder, who is a commissioner for the Global Commission on Drug Policy, said he was prepared to "get on a plane tomorrow" to make a last-ditch plea for clemency for Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran and the others who are due to be executed on Nusakambangan island.

In a letter to Mr Joko, Sir Richard described the death penalty as an "inhumane form of punishment that has been proven time and again to fail as a deterrent of crime".

"Countries that still carry out executions for drug offences have not seen any significant shifts in supply and demand. The drug trade remains remarkably unaffected by the threat of capital punishment," the letter reads.

"Furthermore, the death penalty removes any chance of forgiveness for the remorseful. It is our understanding that several of the defendants, many still in early adulthood when convicted, have expressed enormous regret for their offences and resolved to live better, more purposeful lives."

The letter, which was signed by Sir Richard and two other members of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, Fernando Henrique Cardoso and Ruth Dreifuss, says their organisation has the highest consideration for Indonesian law and Mr Joko's responsibility to keep his country safe.

"However, as advocates of evidence-based drug policy reform, we have studied different national approaches in great depth," the letter continues.

"We have learnt that treating drugs as a health issue and not as a criminal one, helps lower the number of drug deaths, limits the spread of infectious diseases like HIV/AIDS or hepatitis, reduces drug-related crime and allows people who struggle with addiction to become useful members of society again.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/sir-ric...ug-convicts-on-death-row-20150310-140nhf.html
 
Bali nine executions: Indonesian minister threatens to release 'human tsunami' of asylum seekers

Indonesia could release 10,000 asylum seekers to Australia if Canberra continues to antagonise the republic over the execution of the Bali nine duo, an Indonesian minister has warned.

If Canberra keeps doing things that displease Indonesia, Jakarta will surely let the illegal immigrants go to Australia.
Click to expand...

This would create a "human tsunami", according to the Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs, Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno.

The former Navy chief, who is a controversial political figure in Indonesia, said Australia was trying to pressure Indonesia into cancelling the executions by raising the issue of its $1 billion in Boxing Day tsunami aid and discouraging visitors to Bali.

He reminded Australia that Jakarta had been working hard to prevent asylum seekers attempting to travel to Australia in boats.

"If Canberra keeps doing things that displease Indonesia, Jakarta will surely let the illegal immigrants go to Australia," Mr Tedjo said on Metro TV.

Cont -

http://www.smh.com.au/world/bali-ni...sunami-of-asylum-seekers-20150310-140dhn.html
 
crimsonjunk said:
Without getting too deep into the plot one of the themes is that any media attention is very bad for the people sentenced to death as Indonesia has a face saving culture and will not back down in the face of challenges to its sovernegty. I wonder if the media whirlwind has sealed these guys fate. I wonder if a back door under the table approach might have been
Click to expand...

Absolutely correct. Not only that, it's chiefly driven by one thing - cash. Here's a 100% accurate depiction of how it works:

Soulgasm said:
It's funny, in the face of rising HIV epidemics, Indonesian officials will do anything to keep from admitting what the true cause is (increased sexual liberation and inadequate access to sexual education and protection) in their strict Islamic culture. They often use drugs as a scapegoat for this (especially drugs often used intravenously like heroin and methamphetamine) to justify these strict punishments. Indonesia is rife with every kind of drug you could imagine, especially Bali and Jakarta. They often gun for westerners because they know they can extract huge bribes from them in the face of death and ignore every poor Indonesian national slinging dope on the streets. It's actually fairly hard to get caught in this country as long as you give authorities no reason to come after you. The fact that this poor chap's dad actually alerted the authorities here is FUCKED. It's all about the money here; pure greed. And it's really sad. I'd bet my left nut that the president (in NSA's pic) has thrown his fair share of shabu-shabu (methamphetamine) parties and has no moral agenda against the drugs. The grim reality is that they have found a leverage to take huge amounts of money from westerners and the execution of a few people is just their way of keeping up the veneer of this "war on drugs" and keep collecting bribes.
Click to expand...

This person must have good knowledge of the region. If they smell the money they'll put the drugs on your front lawn or your trunk and arrest you even if you've never touched drugs. If you're using and you have money you're a great catch. You'll be treated like subhuman filth. Beaten, tortured, electrocuted, starved, driven to the maximum level of pain and displeasure.

When you're an addict it makes it much worst. Because it's absolutely not a matter of opinion that you have to work under the table and be extremely crafty to escape drug situations in places like Indonesia and middle eastern countries. What goes on in one of these counter-narcotics centers makes hostel look like a picnic. Add to that withdrawal and you're in for a great time. The bastards wait as well, until you're completely sober. They're not gonna waste time hanging you and whipping you with chains when numbed up and can be all the more painful in some hours time.

If you're defiant, refuse to play their game, insist on perusing the 'correct' avenues, you're looking at sitting on a sponge soaking wet with piss for indefinite periods of time getting slashed up like the last scenes of passion of the Christ.

They put the drug lords in charge, give them a cut in return for protection and drug routes. They put you in prison, the prison generates cash and the government collects fines and court fees. It's a win/win situation for them and you're getting fucked both ways. The only country that truly hates drugs with no monetary or political agenda is the uae. When you get caught there no one lays a finger on you. It's 4 years for possession and it doesn't matter if you're Carlos slim.

Also some interesting things on how it works in terms of "possession". Firstly that means 'in you or on you'. That means say poledriver is at Abu Dhabi or Dubai from elsewhere. Anyone that knows he has drugs in his system can point the finger, they'll take him in, piss test, positive means you're in for 3 1/2 years. That's just for having it in your piss. You have to be a reliable informant though if you want people detained and tested for 'in you' arrests.

On you is much more straight forward. Anything, and I mean absolutely anything which could range from a crumb of hash to a cardboard piece (to make a filter) is enough evidence to warrant arrest, a complete search of property and vehicle, and then taken to facilities that would violate every human right in the book. The first thing they grab though is your pack of cigs to see if there are any tears.

I could write a book on humans rights breaches in anti-narcotics departments and prisons. What it boils down to though is that it's the same everywhere. In more 'civilized' nations the agendas are propagated intelligently especially in the eyes of the general public yet they're identical.

Having said and done all of this the worst part about an experience like that is the nicotine withdrawal. Ironic in so many ways.
 
Last edited:
Bali Nine: German drug smuggler Peter Hans Naumann escaped execution in Indonesia

A GERMAN man has escaped the death penalty after being convicted of trying to smuggle cocaine into Bali.
Peter Hans Naumann’s sentence of 15 years’ jail comes as Indonesian authorities prepare to execute up to 10 foreign drug offenders including Bali Nine Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
Naumann, 48, was arrested by customs officials at the resort island’s airport in September after they noticed him acting suspiciously following his arrival on a flight from Bangkok.
An initial search turned up no drugs but further examinations in hospital found he had 11 capsules of cocaine in his stomach.
He confessed during his trial that he had been promised $US5000 ($A6560) to deliver the drugs.

Presiding judge Putu Gde Hariyadi told a court in the Balinese capital Denpasar Naumann had been “proven legally and convincingly guilty of importing narcotics”.
The judge said mitigating factors included that “the defendant regretted his action, was polite during the trial and had not been involved in a crime before”.
He handed him a 15-year jail term, and ordered him to pay a fine of one billion rupiah $US75,700 ($A99,370) or spend an additional three months in jail.

However, judges decided not hand him the toughest penalty in Indonesia for drug trafficking, the death sentence.
President Joko Widodo, who took office in October, has taken a hard line against the drugs trade, claiming that Indonesia is facing an “emergency” due to rising narcotics use, and vowing to show no clemency for traffickers on death row.

http://www.news.com.au/world/asia/b...ion-in-indonesia/story-fnh81fz8-1227259274529
 
Joko Widodo needs political allies to pursue his reformist anti-corruption agenda. And that’s why he’s unlikely to grant clemency

THINK Indonesia’s reluctance to back down on executing Bali Nine duo Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran is all about steadfastly refusing to bow to Australia’s will? Or about staying firm on its notorious tough-on-drugs policy?
Well, those are definitely two factors. But there’s more to it than that, and it all hinges on the tenuous grip on power held by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, whom Indonesians call “Jokowi”.

617732-83ada318-c7bf-11e4-b315-22a5c9651e5e.jpg


Jokowi was elected president in 2014, assuming office in October for a five-year term. The 53-year-old Indonesian President is not your typical political animal. Indeed, he was the first Indonesian president whose background was not in the military or the political elite.
Early in his adult life, Jokowi studied a degree in forestry and wrote a thesis about plywood. But this former timber expert is still proving his political mettle at the national level.
Jokowi was governor of the mid-sized Javanese city of Surakarta, then Governor of Jakarta, before running for president. He had never previously held a senior post in the Indonesian Democratic Party, but ran a successful campaign based around ridding Indonesia of corruption.

“Having taken a strong anti-corruption stance, he doesn’t want to be impeding the judiciary’s decision,” explains Paul Toohey, News Corp Australia’s Indonesia correspondent from a Jakarta traffic jam.
“And don’t forget that [Indonesia’s previous president] Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono left office after Australia was accused of spying, so there is this lingering resentment there.”
Paul Toohey says that Widodo made his name by showing care for people in the slums of Indonesia and by being seen with the poor. He saw corruption, which kept so many in enforced poverty, as a human rights issue.

Cont -

http://www.news.com.au/world/asia/j...o-grant-clemency/story-fnh81fz8-1227259618024
 
Julie Bishop offers to cover the cost of life imprisonment for Bali Nine duo

FOREIGN Minister Julie Bishop’s offer to cover the cost of life imprisonment for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran is part of a package aimed at sparing the pair from the death penalty, the men’s Australian lawyer says.
Ms Bishop reportedly made the offer to Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi in a letter in which she lists the alleged corruption of trial judges as one of many reasons the two Australians should be saved.
The Bali Nine ringleaders are currently in quarantine conditions on Nusakambangan island off Java awaiting execution, with their lawyers due to return to court on Thursday with their most urgent appeal yet.

Cont -

http://www.news.com.au/world/asia/j...or-bali-nine-duo/story-fnh81fz8-1227259589808
 
Bali Nine executions: Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan remain on death row

AS MYURAN Sukumaran’s execution moved closer, his artwork became darker and more haunting.

He was still painting portraits, self-portraits and his family, but he also started putting images on canvas of his thoughts of the transfer to Nusakambangan and the terrifying execution.

He painted a single bullet on a table.

He painted an image of the wooden pole and chair used to restrain the condemned before they were shot dead during a previous execution.

And he painted an image of an aeroplane, rows of empty seats falling into darkness.

Some of the 33-year-old’s artworks, done in the two months after he learned his clemency plea had been rejected and that his and Andrew Chan’s executions were imminent, will be displayed at an exhibition and auction of prisoner art in Bali tonight.

Sukumaran’s People Can Change portrait of Indonesian President Joko Widodo will be displayed, along with several others painted during his darkest hours.

551655-82bdc8a2-c86e-11e4-9504-1b97135f94e2.jpg


But they will not be auctioned or sold off. They are precious to his family. Sukumaran has not been able to paint since being in Besi prison on Nusakambangan but authorities say if the executions are delayed he may be allowed that opportunity.

Norwegian educator Oivind Zahlsen, who has worked with Sukumaran inside the jail on the rehabilitation projects, has seen 22 of Sukumaran’s final paintings before he was moved from Bali to Nusakambangan.

He said some of them depicted a symbolism and the darkness of Sukumaran’s fears of the firing squad. Two show the wooden pole and chair used in previous executions.

552098-8589a060-c86e-11e4-9504-1b97135f94e2.jpg


Cont -

http://www.news.com.au/national/bal...ain-on-death-row/story-fncynjr2-1227260551847
 
Cabinet members urge Indonesia's President Joko Widodo to show mercy to Bali nine duo

Prominent figures in the Indonesian government, including senior cabinet members, have been urging President Joko Widodo to reconsider the executions of the Bali nine duo, Fairfax Media has learned.

But Mr Joko has failed to be swayed, although an apparent delay of several weeks – and possibly months – in the executions will be used to redouble efforts to save the lives of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

"There has been a direct approach to him [from a senior cabinet member] saying Chan and Sukumaran should not be executed but Jokowi rejected it," one source said.

Fairfax Media has been asked not to name the interlocutor because it may jeopardise efforts to save the lives of the Australians and others on death row.

Among those advocating a change of course are figures personally opposed to the death penalty, but also influential government members who publicly support capital punishment, insiders say.

Jakarta governor Basuki Purnama - a close ally of Mr Joko - has already gone public with his objections to the killings, as has Prananda Surya Paloh, whose father is media mogul Surya Paloh, another key backer of the president.

But concerns are far more widespread among the elite, and the high ranks of government.

While the message about the rehabilitation of Sukumaran and Chan has resonated, the bigger concern is the damage being done to Indonesia's international reputation as the execution saga unfolds.

"Cracks are showing," said another source. "They know that after these executions, there are many more to come."

Mr Joko announced in December he would reject all 64 applications for clemency for drug offenders facing the death penalty. Six of those have already been killed, including five foreigners. The next lot of 10 includes nine foreigners.

Further down the track, among those to be executed are two Britons, another Dutch man and six Malaysians.

The killing of the Malaysians is highly problematic for the Indonesian government. There are more than 200 Indonesians facing the death penalty in Malaysia, according to the Indonesian NGO Migrant Care.

Mr Joko has steadfastly maintained he wants to go ahead with the executions, which are popular in Indonesia, and publicly insisted he is unfazed by the international pressure.

As well as Australia's strong diplomacy, the governments of Brazil, Holland, France, the Philippines and Nigeria have all lodged protests or withdrawn their ambassadors.

However, sources maintain Joko – a former mayor with no experience with foreign affairs – has been shocked by the strength of the condemnation.

"Jokowi just wants it to cool down," said another insider.

Cont -

http://www.smh.com.au/world/cabinet...w-mercy-to-bali-nine-duo-20150313-143ls0.html
 
Bali Nine’s Tan Duc Thahn Nguyen: ‘There’s no code of honour among drug dealers’

“THERE isn’t any code of honour among drug dealers. In the end it will destroy you and everyone around you.”
That’s the haunting message from convicted Bali Nine drug smuggler Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen who has spoken out for the first time about his experience in jail.
The trafficker is serving a life sentence for his role in a plot to smuggle more than eight kilograms of heroin into Australia in 2005.

Previously placing his faith in his lawyers and their ability to win him a reduction on his sentence, he now watches President Joko Widodo push steadfastly ahead with the execution of fellow Bali Nine smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
His own hopes of ever walking free dying with them.
“Sitting in my jail cell and watching the way the Indonesian government’s handling their execution, I’m terrified,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
“It’s really horrible what Andrew and Myuran and their families and the people who care for them are going through.

“After 10 years, the possibility of them being executed is difficult. My parents are hugely affected by it. My mother cried for days after hearing.
“I’m terrified for their situation, distraught for their loved ones and agonisingly certain I will be next.”

Lifers like Nguyen don’t receive annual reduction on their sentence like other inmates.
Unless he is given a reduced sentence on appeal, he will die in prison.
But each appeal comes with a great risk.
In September 2006, on appeal, the Indonesian Supreme Court increased his sentence to the death penalty — before being reduced again to life almost two years later.
Nguyen said he was determined to apply to have his sentence reduced again this year — but feared President Widodo’s strongarm tactics would count against him.

Cont -

http://www.news.com.au/world/asia/b...ong-drug-dealers/story-fnh81fz8-1227262351384
 
Bali Nine: Executions rise in US, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia

THE year barely seems like it has begun and it’s already proving to be a deadly one.
While the fate of condemned Bali Nine duo Andrew Chan remains on hold, Indonesia has come under the spotlight over its ongoing use of the death penalty.
But this week another country attracted headlines when it announced 8000 prisoners on death row would soon be executed.

Pakistan has lifted its moratorium on the death penalty in all capital cases after restarting executions for terrorism offences in the wake of a Taliban school massacre.
The interior ministry has directed provincial governments to proceed with hangings for prisoners who have exhausted all avenues of appeal and clemency, a move which has been widely
condemned by human rights groups.

Pakistan has hanged 24 convicts since resuming executions in December after Taliban militants gunned down more than 150 people, most of them children, at a school in the restive northwest in December last year by Pakistani Taliban splinter group Tehreek-e-Taliban.
The partial lifting of the moratorium only applied to those convicted of terrorism offences, but officials said it has now been extended.

Cont -

http://www.news.com.au/world/asia/b...and-saudi-arabia/story-fnh81fz8-1227262303709
 
Indonesia’s President has granted mercy to a double murderer, reducing his sentence from death to life

ONLY weeks after rejecting Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran’s clemency pleas, Indonesia’s President granted mercy to a double murderer, reducing his sentence from death to life.

Described as a premeditated and “sadistic” murder of a father and his school-age son, one of the three killers reportedly learned yesterday that his clemency had been granted.

Human rights groups welcomed the decision to give clemency to killers but say it highlights the inequities in the country’s judicial system which is “far from fair”.

And it comes after three convicted terrorists walked free from Nusa Kambangan last week, after serving seven to eight years of a 10-year sentence for stockpiling weapons and planning terror attacks.

Indonesian news agency, Detik, reported today that 27-year-old Dwi Trisna Firmansyah, from Pekanbaru in Sumatra, had been granted clemency and his lawyer hopes he will be freed within years.

The clemency decree was signed by President Joko Widodo on February 13 this year but only reached Firmansyah on Friday afternoon.

It was granted one month after the President denied Chan’s clemency on January 17 and about six weeks after he denied Sukumaran’s clemency on December 30 last year.

According to Detik, the premeditated murder was committed by Firmansyah and two others in April 2012 when they planned to kill and rob a mobile phone shop operator in Pekanbaru.

Cont -

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/in...om-death-to-life/story-e6freuy9-1227262734944
 
I'm pretty sure these dudes are going to die. Any feelings I have that are contrary to killing humans, for what I would consider unserious crimes, are going to be in vain.

It's like 3 out of 4 people support euthanasia here, but the laws won't change while there are a majority of fools who support death by cruelty or pain.

How could me feeling bad about it possibly help?

At the same time, I would like to do something to help. But I can't.
 
Indonesia strikes Australia from list of visa-free countries

AUSTRALIA has been struck from a list of countries that will enjoy visa-free travel to Indonesia as tension between the countries worsens over the imminent execution of the Bali Nine ringleaders.

In November, Australia was named on a list of countries under consideration to have visa fees scrapped in order to boost tourism, but Indonesian Tourist Minister Arief Yahya announced yesterday that Aussie tourists had been excluded from the final list.

Arief said travellers from 45 European and Asian nations would have their visas waived from next month and Indonesia would ask the countries to reciprocate, Reuters reports.

He stressed, however, that the same gesture would not be extended to Australia.

“If we give visa-free travel to Australia, we have to be given the same thing,” Arief told reporters. “It cannot be that we give it to them first.”

Arief denied that the policy was in response to the diplomatic unrest over Australian drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who are scheduled to be executed by firing squad.

However, an unnamed senior ministry official has told The Jakarta Post that political reasons were behind the decision to exclude Australia from the new visa policy.

“Giving free visas to Australians may bring more detriment than benefit. Besides, Bali would still be their favourite destination anyway.

I don’t think a visa on arrival fee of around US$35 would be a burden for any Australian tourist,” the official said.

Cont -

http://www.news.com.au/travel/trave...a-free-countries/story-fn6yjihw-1227266001021
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top