Comedian and generally fairly outspoken individual Russell Brand has thrown his support behind Bali Nine drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, directing his fans to join a campaign for mercy for the pair.
These Aussie blokes are going to be killed soon for a bit of daft drug smuggling (they’ve done 10 yrs already) HELP! http://t.co/LRxs6JBteR
— Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) April 11, 2015
He linked fans to a website featuring interviews with Chan and Sukumaran, which also contains a petition, asking Joko Widodo to spare the lives of the pair on humanitarian grounds.
He also directed followers to an exhibition of artworks painted by Sukumaran while on death row, which will open this week at Amnesty International headquarters in London.
Come to this exhibition in East London next week – the artist is going to be executed in Indonesia in a month http://t.co/KRk4SLPv1b
— Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) April 11, 2015
Russell Brand frequently keeps an eye on Australian news and current affairs. Last year, he weighed in on the aftermath of the Martin Place siege, and in February this year, he had a go at our nation’s refugee policy.
While it’s certainly commendable of him to draw more attention to Chan and Sukumaran’s situation, their prospects for mercy are looking fairly bleak at this point.
Last week, the pair lost a bid to challenge the rejection of their clemency plea, one of the last legal avenues available to them before their coming death by firing squad.
Though their lawyers indicated that the fight would continue in constitutional court, Indonesia’s Attorney General HM-Prasetyo criticised this as a “diversionary tactic”, and indicated there would be “no more delays” to their execution.
Photo: Alex Huckle via Getty Images
