Execution move ‘delayed’ at 11th hour

A lawyer for the Bali Nine duo says they won't face execution before a court challenge is heard.

Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Tanya Plibersek making a statement to the House of Representatives on Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, Parliament House in Canberra Source: News Corp Australia

PLANS to move Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran to Nusa Kambangan island to await their execution may be delayed.

Sources have told News Corp Australia that the Indonesian Attorney General last night instructed Bali officials to delay the move which was planned for this week and could have gone ahead as early as tonight.

Movement at the jail ... an increased presence was noticed at Kerobokan Jail today. Picture: Adam Taylor Source: News Corp Australia

A spokesman for Indonesia's attorney-general said their transfer has been delayed because Nusakambangan island, where they will be executed, is not yet ready.

Spokesman Tony Spontana also said the Australian government had requested more time for Chan and Sukumaran to spend with their families, and a Brazilian prisoner also due to be executed was suffering a mental illness.

"I'm sure this week there won't be any transfers," he told reporters in Jakarta.

It was first thought it may relate to a fierce battle ongoing in Jakarta between the national police and the anti-corruption body over the appointment of a new police chief who has been investigated for corruption.

The police chief candidate yesterday won a court battle to stop the corruption commission's investigation and the decision, ruling that his declaration as a graft suspect was unwarranted under the law, brought protests.

This morning, grief was etched onto the faces of the families and close-knit group of friends of Chan and Sukumaran as they made the now daily ritual into Kerobokan jail to visit the men during what could be their last days.

Legal bid ... Indonesian lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis (L) beside Australian lawyer Michael O'Connell (R) representing the two Australian drug traffickers during a press conference yesterday. Source: AFP

The strain of the past few weeks, since the Indonesian Government instructed for the two Australians to be put before a firing squad, regardless of ongoing court appeals, has taken its toll on the two families.

And inside the jail, the fellow prisoners of Chan and Sukumaran, are tense and nervous, unsure of when and if they will even get to say goodbye to the two men who have enriched their lives and made Kerobokan prison a better place for them all.

As younger men ... Chan and Sukumaran in 2006. Source: AP

Authorities said yesterday that the two men would be flown to Nusa Kambangan this week and would be housed in the maximum security Batu prison on the island to await their execution.

It has been planned they would fly, on a charter from Bali to Cilacap, the port town close to Nusa Kambangan, an island of six jails.

But no date was given and authorities say they would not be given their 72 hours notice of execution until they are already at Nusa Kambangan.

It comes as lawyers for the pair have begged the Attorney General to delay their move from Bali and execution until a lawsuit in the State Administrative Court in Jakarta is heard next week.

Desperate days ... Raji Sukumaran arrives at Kerobokan Jail today. Picture: Adam Taylor Source: News Corp Australia

The legal team has lodged an action, claiming that the Indonesian President, breached stands of good governance by failing to individually consider each case on merits before rejecting Chan and Sukumaran's pleas for clemency.

The President, Joko Widodo, cited a "drug emergency" in his country as reason for issuing a blanket denial of all drug trafficker clemency applications, saying the executions would be "shock therapy" to halt the scourge of drugs.

However the lawyers claim that he failed to take into account the rehabilitation and redemption of Chan and Sukumaran, who have turned Kerobokan jail into a learning institution and have embraced the role of anti-drugs crusaders.

Desperate bid ... Members of the Australian embassy leave the venue after meeting with Indonesian officials yesterday. Source: AFP

Six former PMs, one plea

Earlier today, in an extraordinary show of bipartisanship, all of Australia's living former prime ministers have joined the calls for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran to be given clemency.

As the ringleaders of the Bali Nine drug smuggling operation face execution, John Howard, Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and Malcolm Fraser all expressed their concern over the fate of the two Australians.

Their intervention came as Labor's foreign affairs spokeswoman Tanya Plibersek said the Australian Federal Police should have waited until the men were in Australia to arrest them, rather than tipping off the Indonesian police.

Heartbreaking ... Gillard says the pair deserve recognition for the changes they've made. Source: News Corp Australia

Tragedy ... Fraser said the execution would be tragic, but recalling the ambassador to Indonesia would be foolish. Source: News Corp Australia

In separate statements to the Australian newspaper, the group pleaded with Indonesian President Joko Widodo to spare the two men's lives saying they believed they had rehabilitated.

Ms Gillard said she would find it heartbreaking if the men's "extraordinary efforts to become of good character were not met with an act of mercy, of recognition of change".

Mr Howard said the pair had demonstrated genuine rehabilitation, while Mr Rudd urged an act of clemency from Indonesia.

On the move ... Kerbokan was a hive ofactivity today. Picture: Adam Taylor Source: News Corp Australia

Mr Hawke, meanwhile, said Chan and Sukumaran had served their incarceration with model behaviour.

"I therefore urge and plead that the government reconsider its decision to now take their lives," he added.

Mr Fraser said an execution would be a tragedy, but recalling Australia's ambassador to Indonesia would be foolish.

Mr Keating described the men's pending execution as "a monstrous act" which would provide no atonement for a crime.

Pleading ... Rudd joined the calls for clemency. Source: News Corp Australia

Deserving ... Hawke said the pair has served their sentence with model behaviour. Source: News Corp Australia

AFP should have picked up Bali Nine in Australia: Plibersek

Earlier, Tanya Plibersek said Bali Nine convicted drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran should have been picked up by police in Australia.

Asked this morning if the Australian Federal Police should wear some of the blame for tipping off Indonesian police about the smuggling operation rather than arresting Chan and Sukumaran when they returned to Australia, Labor's foreign affairs spokeswoman said it was "unquestionable" that it would have resulted in a better outcome.

The final journey of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukamaran will see them taken to an Island off the coast of Bali where they will be executed.

"I think it's unquestionable that it would have been better to pick these young people up when they returned to Australia," Ms Plibersek said.

EXECUTION IMMINENT: Duo to be moved to Nusa Kambangan island this week

"I would have been quite happy for them to do long jail terms in Australia — they've done something very seriously wrong. It was a large quantity of drugs and they should have received serious sentences.

"But it would have been preferable for them to be caught in Australia, dealt with in our Australian judicial system, served time in an Australian jail and hopefully been rehabilitated here as they have in Indonesia."

Chan and Sukumaran were sentenced 10 years ago for drug trafficking and given the death penalty. They have been held in a Bali jail and are said to have turned their lives around and rehabilitated successfully.

Pleading ... Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop and her shadow minister, Ms Plibersek, have made repeated pleas for the Bali Nine duo to be spared from execution. Source: News Corp Australia

It was announced yesterday that Chan and Sukumaran would be moved this week to the island where they will be executed.

Bali's chief prosecutor Momock Bambang Samiarso says the two Australians would be taken to Nusa Kambangan prison, off Cilacap in Central Java in the coming days but a firm date has yet to be set.

It is on the island, in one of the six prisons, the pair will live out their final days until executions.

Waiting game ... Chan, pictured here, and Sukumaran will be moved to Nusa Kambangan prison in the coming days. Source: News Corp Australia

Waiting game ... Sukumaran walks back to his cell after a visit from his mother. Source: News Corp Australia

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