Bali Nine: Australian politicians plead for Indonesia to spare condemned pair
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Version 0 of 1. More than 100 federal politicians have written to the Indonesian ambassador to plead for the lives of two Australian drug traffickers on death row in Bali. They have urged Nadjib Riphat Kesoema to pass on their views to the “appropriate members” of the Indonesian government for urgent consideration. The MPs and senators ask that death sentences passed on Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan be commuted to an appropriate term of imprisonment or they be deported back to Australia. The two men are expected to face a firing squad within weeks. “We do not seek to minimise the serious nature of their crime, given the damaging effects of illicit drugs on our societies,” the politicians write. It asks the Indonesian government to reconsider the pair’s circumstances in light of “their rehabilitation, their suffering and their families’ suffering”. The politicians outline Australia’s opposition to the death penalty and welcome Indonesia’s “restraint” in its application of the death penalty in recent years. They also tell the ambassador they believe the men were apprehended only because Australian federal police provided information to Indonesian authorities. “Their crime, serious as it was, was intended to impact on Australians in Australia, not Indonesia,” they write. Signatories to the letter include Labor’s Senate leader, Penny Wong, and the chief government whip, Philip Ruddock, and his opposition counterpart, Chris Hayes. The Senate has also formally called on the Indonesian government to reconsider the death penalty for Chan and Sukumaran. |