Two Australians on death row in Indonesia will be transferred from a prison in Bali to the location of their execution this week, the head of provincial prosecutors’ office said on Monday (February 16).
Momock Bambang Samiarso told reporters that Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, Australians who were sentenced to death in 2006 for a plot to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia, will be sent to a maximum security prison at Nusakambangan Island in central Java this week.
The exact date of the transfer was not revealed.
“I cannot tell you when the execution will take place but what I can confirm is we’ll transfer the two convicted drug traffickers as soon as possible,” said Samiarso.
“The forces are ready to move them and we’ve already briefed the team,” he added
Meanwhile in Jakarta, the lawyers of the Sukumaran and Chan urged the authorities not to transfer them before the expected appeal hearing at Jakarta’s administrative court next week.
“And I’m happy to tell you now, to inform you that we’ve the summons already from the administrative court of Jakarta. That on the 24th of February, next Tuesday, we’re being summoned by the head of administrative court to appeal before him,” said Indonesian lawyerTodung Mulya Lubis.
The lawyers are currently in the process of challenging the clemency plea that was rejected last month.
“I hope all these legal process respected by the Attorney General, by all part of the government that they cannot transfer move Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, not to mention to execute them while legal process is still going on,” Lubis added.
Australia has been pursuing an eleventh-hour campaign to save the lives of Sukumaran, 33, and Andrew Chan, 31, two Australian members of the so-called Bali Nine.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has warned Indonesia of the potential for diplomatic fallout if Jakarta goes ahead with the looming execution.
Representatives of countries whose citizens are also on death row attended a meeting inIndonesian Foreign Ministry on Monday, but no details related to the one-hour meeting were revealed.
Indonesia has harsh penalties for drug trafficking and resumed executions in 2013 after a five-year gap.
Five foreigners were among six people executed last month, the first executions since PresidentJoko Widodo took office in October last year.
The last Australian executed by a foreign government was Nguyen Tuong Van, by Singapore in 2005, who was also on charges of smuggling heroin. That incident had little effect on bilateral ties, but the execution of two Australians for drug offences in Malaysia in 1986 saw relations plummet.
