Indonesia rejects mercy for Australians; spares Filipina
Brintha Sukumaran, centre, the sister of death row prisoner Myuran Sukumaran, breaks down after arriving at Nusakambangan port in Cilacap on Tuesday. (Photo: AP)
Cilacap: Indonesia early on Wednesday executed eight drug convicts including two Australians but a Filipina was spared at the 11th hour, local media reported. The convicts, who also included a Brazilian, four Africans and one Indonesian, were put to death by firing squad on the prison island of Nusakambangan, MetroTV and the Jakarta Post newspaper reported.
Earlier in the day, weeping families paid final visits to their loved ones. Relatives of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, the Australian ringleaders of the so-called “Bali Nine” heroin trafficking group, wailed in grief as they headed to the island, and one relative collapsed.
“I am asking the government not to kill him. Call off the execution. Please don’t take my son,” said Sukumaran’s mother Raji, in a tearful plea after visiting him. The Australians are among nine prisoners, including nationals from Brazil, the Philippines, Nigeria and one Indonesian, facing imminent execution.
Late on Tuesday Australia, the European Union and France issued a joint plea for Indonesia not to go ahead, urging it to “reflect upon the impact on Indonesia’s position in the world and its international reputation”.
The families of Chan and Sukumaran could not control their emotions as they arrived at Cilacap, the town that serves as the gateway to Nusakambangan. As they were mobbed by a huge scrum of journalists, members of Sukumaran’s family screamed and cried out “Mercy!” as they walked in a slow procession. His sister Brintha collapsed into the arms of family members.
Chan, who like Sukumaran is in his 30s, married his Indonesian girlfriend in a jailhouse ceremony with family and friends on Nusakambangan on Monday, his final wish. Australia’s foreign minister defended PM Tony Abbott against online criticism that he had not done enough to save the two Australians. In Sydney, about 300 supporters of the Australian pair held a vigil, with several people displaying signs calling for mercy.
Sukumaran says jail ‘changed’ him:
Myuran Sukumaran, a ringleader of the Bali Nine drugs smuggling syndicate, was born in London in 1981 and moved with his Sri Lankan family to Australia when he was a child.
He dropped out of university and became involved in the Sydney drugs and party scene. Enticed by the prospect of easy money, in 2005 he helped to organise a shipment of heroin destined for Australia, but was caught and sentenced to death a year later.
Sukumaran said the shock of jail prompted him to change his life and he has become a model prisoner, teaching other inmates English and art. He has also become an accomplished artist himself, painting several pictures in his final days on Nusakambangan, the high-security prison island where Indonesia carries out executions. One of his lawyers returned from a visit to the island on Tuesday with a painting signed by all nine death row convicts. It was titled One Heart, One Feeling, One Love and depicted a heart.
( Source : AFP )
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