Chan, Sukumaran executed as final pleas fail: reports
Steve Pennells Cilacap Indonesia The West Australian
April 28, 2015, 3:55 am
Death came after midnight.
Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were taken by separate cars to the west coast of Nusakambangan -- the so-called execution island.
The Sukumaran family make one final plea for mercy just hours before Myuran Sukumaran is due to be executed. Picture: Steve Pennells/The West Australian
Sukumaran told his family earlier he would refuse a blindfold.
Fourteen officers from Indonesian police taskforce Brimob - whose unit motto is 'My Soul for the Sake of Humanity' - fired at each of the prisoners.
Eleven shots were blank. Three were live.
Social media anger at executions
As the countdown to the execution began, supporters of the two men gathered at Cilacap port.
With ten minutes to go before the midnight deadline, they sobbed and hugged each other.
On a small CD player, they played Hallelujah.
Michael Chan, left and Chinthu Sukumaran carry a self-portrait painting of Myuran Sukumaran. Picture: Getty Images
Local media where the first to report that the executions had taken place but that Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso of the Philippines was spared after a woman who allegedly recruited her to act as a drug courier gave himself up to police in the Philippines on Tuesday.
TV networks TV One and Metro TV reported that the executions took place at 12.25am local time.
Steve Ciobo, Parliamentary Secretary to the Foreign Minister, was the first politician to react, criticising the use of the death penalty.
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Steven Ciobo @steveciobo There are few greater displays of abuse of State power and regressive thinking than the death penalty. #RIP
3:52 AM - 29 Apr 2015
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Chan, 31, and Sukumaran, 34, are the first Australians to be executed since December 2, 2005, when 25-year-old Melbourne man Van Tuong Nguyen was hanged in Singapore after being caught at Changi Airport with almost 400g of heroin.
A Cilacap police officer has told the Post prayers were said for each person according to their respective religion after the executions. “The executions went well, without any disruptions,” he said.
A big police contingent arrived at the port as news of the executions spread. Picture: Steve Pennells/The West Australian
The AGO stated that the executions had been carried out after it had heard all eight convicts final requests.
The executions were conducted despite last-minute maneouvres by the Federal Government and the final, harrowing pleas for mercy from the Chan and Sukumaran familes.
A joint statement released by the Australian embassy in Jakarta said: “The governments of Australia, France and the European Union call on President Widodo to halt the planned executions. It is not too late to change your mind."
But any hope was lost when the Indonesian Attorney General HM Prasetyo confirmed soon after that the executions would proceed after midnight local time.
"That's what our laws decided. We say our courts are open, fair and nothing is closed," he said.
* WHO ARE THE OTHER SEVEN INMATES?
* WHAT HAPPENS IN THE FINAL HOURS?
* CHAN MARRIES AHEAD OF EXECUTIONS
“We have explained that we're not against them (personally).
“What we fight is the serious crime of drugs.”
Cancelling the executions would show that Indonesia was soft on drugs, he said.
President Joko Widodo has been determined to push ahead with the execution of the nine convicts, who include foreigners from Australia, Brazil, Nigeria and the Philippines as well as one Indonesian.
The joint statement said: "In filing this petition, we ask Indonesia to reflect upon the impact on Indonesia's position in the world and its international reputation.
"We support Indonesia's efforts in obtaining clemency for its citizens abroad. Stopping this execution will help those efforts,” the statement said.
“We fully respect the sovereignty of Indonesia. But we are against the death penalty in our country and abroad. The execution will not have a deterrent effect on drug-trafficking or stop others from becoming victims of drug abuse. Executing these prisoners now will not achieve anything.”
The Federal Government warned Indonesia of repercussions if the executions went ahead, with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop saying she was dismayed by events.
Early yesterday morning, the families realised that the tortuous, sporadic countdown to the men's death was nearing its end.
It was a deep, gut-wrenching wail.
It cut through the muggy air, grabbing everyone within reach and holding them fast in that awful moment.
The wail came from some place deeper than Brintha Sukumaran’s lungs.
It muted the boorish media pack around her, the barking police dogs, the shouting officers. In that instant, the only thing anyone could hear was a young woman’s pain.
As she tried to make her way through a media scrum at Cilacap port yesterday, Myuran Sukumaran’s sister was pushed and shoved. At one point she appeared to faint before being carried into the port’s office.
As the claustrophobic countdown to midnight ticked closer, all you wanted to do was rescue her and tell her it was going to be OK and that her brother wouldn’t be shot and killed in less than 24 hours.
Two journalists turned away and started crying.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” one of them said.
Raki Sukumaran weeps as she pleads for mercy. Picture: Steve Pennells/The West Australian
“We’re all here because nine people are going to die in a few hours.”
When all this is over, when the political stoush surrounding their deaths dies down, Brintha’s wail will be something no one who was there yesterday will forget easily.
It represented what words couldn’t — a helpless, stomach-churning reality edging closer.
Death comes to everyone but not everyone dies like this.
It was 9.25am when the coffins began arriving, each one carried in its own ambulance with postdated crosses bearing today’s date: April 29, 2015.
Caskets for nine people who weren’t dead yet.
Their families pushed through the crowd, inconsolable. As they prepared to board the ferry for the short ride to Nusakambangan — the so-called execution island — Chan and Sukumaran’s relatives were told that the visit would be their last.
But even that final goodbye was framed in the kind of cruel chaos that’s marked these men’s path to execution.
While Indonesia’s attorney-general was announcing in( Jakarta that relatives could stay with the pair until 8pm, they were told to leave at 2pm.
Brintha Sukumaran, helped as she arrives at Wijaya Pura port. Picture: Getty Images
Despite assurances to diplomats that Christian ministers Christie Buckingham and David Soper, who were close to both men, would be able to comfort them in their last moments, Indonesian officials denied them access.
Chan’s brother Michael said it was the “last bit of dignity denied”.
Angela, the girlfriend of Raheem Agbaje Salami, who has shared a four-cell prison block with Chan and Sukumaran since they were moved from Bali’s Kerobokan prison last month, handed a letter to journalists, begging for the men to be given a second chance.
A police officer rushed over and grabbed the note, crushing it in his palm.
But even up to the 11th hour, the families held hope.
Back on the mainland, Chan and Sukumaran’s relatives stood side-by-side with supporters and ashen-faced Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade staff as they made a last-minute plea for mercy.
Chinthu Sukumaran, left, and Michael Chan the brothers of Australian death row prisoners Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, carry a self-portrait painting of Myuran Sukumaran. Picture: Getty Images
“I just had to say goodbye to my son and I won’t see him again,” Sukumaran’s mother Raji wept. “They are going to take him at midnight and shoot him,” she said. “He is healthy and he is beautiful.
“I’m asking the Government please don’t kill him today. Please don’t hold the execution. Please don’t kill my son.”
Chan’s brother Michael said the deaths would achieve (nothing. “To walk out of there and say goodbye for the last time, it’s torture and no family should have to go through that,” he said.
“There has to be a moratorium on the death penalty (because now the family is( going to have to grieve for the rest of their lives.
“I just hope the President, somewhere in his heart he can find some courage to show some mercy to these nine individuals and call this off. It’s not too late. It’s up to him.”
Myuran Sukumaran's mother Raji Sukumaran arrives at Wijaya Pura port to visit her son at Nusakambangan prison. Picture: Getty Images
Brintha, whose wail had summarised everything that everyone there was feeling, wept on brother Chintu’s shoulder and begged: “Please don’t take my brother from me.”
Chintu said the last few hours with Myuran were not enough to talk about everything the families had wanted to.
“We did talk about the death penalty and he knows this is just a waste,” Chintu said.
“It’s not going to solve anything with drugs.
“Tomorrow, next week, next month, it’s still not going to stop anything with drugs. If these nine people die today, it’s not going to stop anything.”
A lawyer holds a painting by Myuran Sukumaran. Picture: Getty Images
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said last night the process in the lead-up to the executions had been chaotic and family members of the condemned had been treated poorly.
Ms Bishop took aim at the ham-fisted way the families had been forced to run the gauntlet of a media scrum outside the prison when saying goodbye to loved ones. “I am obviously deeply disturbed at some of the aspects of how this has been handled,” she said.
“I think the ghastly process that the family have been put through today just underscores how chaotic this has been.”
Ms Bishop warned there would be “consequences” for Australia’s relations with( Indonesia.
However, she stopped short of saying what sanctions could be brought to bear.
She said Australia had made a number of requests of Indonesia during the saga that had gone unanswered.
The West Australian
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