Indonesia delays transfer of Australians to execution site

The prisoners would not be moved to Nusakambangan Island, off the main island of Java, until a date for their execution had been determined., announced the attorney general on Tuesday.

Michael Chan, centre, brother of Andrew Chan, one of two Australian prisoners on death row, visits his sibling. Sonny Tumbelaka / AFP

JAKARTA // The transfer of two Australians to an Indonesian island prison for execution will not go ahead this week as planned, as Canberra continued to press for their lives to be spared.

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, ringleaders of the so-called Bali Nine heroin trafficking group, were to be transported this week to the high-security prison for their execution, together with several other prisoners whose appeals for mercy were also rejected.

Indonesian authorities have confirmed the Australians will be among the next group to face the firing squad, but have remained tight-lipped about when the execution will take place.

But the attorney-general’s spokesman Tony Spontana said on Tuesday the prisoners would not be moved to Nusakambangan Island, off the main island of Java, until a date for their execution had been determined.

“It is delayed. The transfer will not be done this week,” he said.

Mr Spontana insisted the executions would proceed, but the prisoners would only be taken to the island prison three days beforehand. Death row inmates must be given 72 hours’ notice under Indonesian law before facing the firing squad.

The decision to delay the move was made after the Australian government asked for more time for the families to be with their loved ones, Mr Spontana said.

Logistical difficulties involving capacity at Nusakambangan were also cited as a reason.

The Australians and five other foreigners – including citizens from France, Ghana, Brazil and Nigeria – have already lost their appeals for presidential clemency, the final hope of avoiding the firing squad.

Legal and diplomatic efforts to save the Australians have escalated in recent weeks, with every surviving former prime minister of Australia urging Jakarta to spare their lives.

From Malcolm Fraser, prime minister from 1975 to 1983, to his successors Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, John Howard, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, they provided their support for clemency in comments to The Australian newspaper.

“They committed a very serious crime but have demonstrated genuine rehabilitation,” said Mr Howard, whose conservative government began efforts to save the pair during his term in office.

Mr Rudd, who succeeded Mr Howard as prime minister in 2007, said as a “deep, long-standing friend of Indonesia” he would “respectfully request an act of clemency”.

“We are very much opposed to the death penalty in Australia,” said Mr Fraser.

Current prime minister Tony Abbott has also spoken strongly against the planned executions, warning Canberra will make its displeasure felt if they go ahead.

Australia’s current government has asked Indonesia – which faced a diplomatic outcry last month when it executed six drug offenders including five foreigners – not to proceed, particularly while last-ditch legal measures are being pursued.

Lawyers for the pair have a court date next Tuesday to examine their claim that Indonesian president Joko Widodo did not follow the rules in rejecting Chan and Sukumaran’s clemency bids.

Mr Widodo has been a vocal supporter of capital punishment and has vowed a tough approach to ending what he has called Indonesia’s “drug emergency”.

He has shocked rights groups with his support for executions, as they had hoped he would take a softer line on capital punishment.

The case of the so-called Bali Nine ringleaders is being followed closely in Australia, a key tourism market for the Indonesian island.

* Agence France-Presse