Following the news of Bali Nine members Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran‘s transfer to ‘execution island‘ this week, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop continues to place eleventh hour clemency bids in order to save the duo from death by firing squad.
Julie Bishop confirmed on Sky News Australia this morning that she put the idea of a “prisoner swap” on the table to her Indonesian counterpart, saying the government was intent on exploring all possible options regarding the fate of Chan and Skumaran, “To see if there were any other avenues open, if there were any other avenues to pursue.” Bishop added, “I asked for a pause in their preparations for the executions of Mr Chan and Mr Sukumaran.”
Julie Bishop told Sky News that she reminded her counterpart:
“I didn’t go into any specific detail but I did note there were Australian prisoners in Jakarta and there were Indonesian prisoners in Australia and that we should explore some opportunity, a prison swap, a transfer, whether that could be done under Indonesian law.”
It is suspected that the “prisoner swap” could involve Indonesian drug smugglers who are currently imprisoned in Australia, a group of three men who were caught in a 1998 bust after AFP seized 390 kilograms of drugs and a glock on a boat in Port Macquarie. The estimated street value of the Indonesian drug smugglers’ haul was $600 million.
Their heroin import was a staggering 47 times larger than that of the Bali Nine group’s. Under Australian law, the smugglers will be eligible for parole by 2017.
This morning, a dawn candle-lit vigil was held in Canberra at Parliament House, attended by Tony Abbott, Bill Shorten, Tanya Plibersek, and Julie Bishop, among other party figures, demonstrating a bipartisan stance on the death penalty. Tanya Plibersek, Julie Bishop and Philip Ruddock all spoke on their defiant opposition to capital punishment under any circumstance.
“We ask that their remorse be taken into account,” Julie Bishop said, citing the reformation of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran during their ten years at Kerobokan prison.
Politicians in a show of support for #Bali9 duo at candlelight vigil in Canberra: http://t.co/YQYiXz03ii pic.twitter.com/xRM5g1taGH
— FIVEaa (@1395FIVEaa) March 4, 2015
MPs including Tony Abbott + Bill Shorten (pic: @latikambourke) have gathered for a mercy vigil in Canberra. #BaliNine pic.twitter.com/18t97cYaO7
— 3AW Melbourne (@3AW693) March 4, 2015
Via ABC.
