Jakarta dodges Aussie PM’s call over smugglers’ issue
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has not replied to or returned the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s phone call to talk about the fate of two death row prisoners during the past three weeks.
Jakarta's envoy Nadjib Riphat Kesoema said in the Australian capital city of Canberra on Thursday that, “The president was so busy,” to talk to Abbott since his initial call pleading for clemency for Australian drug traffickers, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
On March 5, one day after the Australian drug smugglers were moved from their Bali prison to Nusakambangan island, home to several high-security prisons and where they would be executed, Abbott told reporters that he had asked for a telephone conversation with Widodo on the impending executions of the two Australian heroin traffickers.
However, after three weeks, the conversation has not yet taken place and Widodo still denies the pair clemency.
On Wednesday, the two men’s lawyers presented evidence to a state administrative court in Jakarta to support their plea against a verdict by Widodo who refuses to grant clemency. The court was adjourned until March 30 to hear expert evidence.
“I’ve certainly put in a request because the government and the people of Indonesia need to know that this is important to us,” Abbott said in early March.
The Australian premier also expressed his abhorrence of both drug crime and death penalty. Pressing that the men had reformed and should be spared death by the firing squad, he said “We frankly are revolted by the prospect of these executions.”
A tale of two smugglers
Australian nationals Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were arrested in 2005 and sentenced to death the following year for trying to smuggle 8.3 kilograms of heroin out of the Indonesian island of Bali into Australia.
The two are the only members of the dismantled Bali Nine drug-smuggling ring to face the firing squad. The remaining Bali Nine members were sentenced to life or 20 years in prison.
Jakarta and Canberra have been at loggerheads over the fate of the two prisoners, with Canberra warning on February 15 of a severe diplomatic response, including a boycott on traveling to Indonesia if Jakarta proceeds with the executions.
The convicts’ appeals for presidential clemency have been rejected by Widodo. Abbott, however, stressed that Australia would continue with “11th-hour” efforts to save the lives of its citizens.
The number of convicts on death row mostly for drug crimes in Indonesia exceeds 138. Drug offenders face harsh punishments, including death penalty in the country. Approximately one third of the convicted people are foreigners.
MIS/NN/HMV
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