Indonesia rejects last bid to save Aussies on death row
6 March 2015 12:44 AM GMT
Indonesia on Thursday rejected the offer of a prisoner swap proposed by Canberra in an 11th-hour bid to save two Australian drug smugglers facing execution, saying it is determined to put to death those “who have poisoned our nation”.
Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the ringleaders of the so-called “Bali Nine” drug trafficking gang, could be shot within days after being moved yesterday to the Indonesian island where they are due to face a firing squad. Authorities must give convicts 72 hours’ notice before they are executed and in a last-ditch effort to save them Foreign Min Julie Bishop proposed a prisoner swap.
She said she had spoken to her counterpart Retno Marsudi in what was reportedly “a very tense phone call”. “I’ve spoken to her on a number of occasions about this, and I wanted to explore any opportunities to save the lives of these two young men,” Bishop said.
Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the ringleaders of the so-called “Bali Nine” drug trafficking gang, could be shot within days after being moved yesterday to the Indonesian island where they are due to face a firing squad. Authorities must give convicts 72 hours’ notice before they are executed and in a last-ditch effort to save them Foreign Min Julie Bishop proposed a prisoner swap.
She said she had spoken to her counterpart Retno Marsudi in what was reportedly “a very tense phone call”. “I’ve spoken to her on a number of occasions about this, and I wanted to explore any opportunities to save the lives of these two young men,” Bishop said.
Next Story
