Oz drug convicts face Indonesian firing squad

Cilacap (Indonesia), March 4

Two convicted Australian drug smugglers were transferred on Wednesday from a Bali prison to an island for execution along with other foreigners, underlining Indonesia’s determination to use the death penalty despite international criticism.

The planned executions of Myuran Sukumaran, 33, and Andrew Chan, 31, have ratcheted up diplomatic tension between Australia and Indonesia following repeated pleas for mercy on their behalf. They are among a group of up to 11 convicts, most of them foreigners, due to go before a firing squad on the prison island of Nusakambangan.

Sukumaran and Chan left Bali’s Kerobokan Prison in an armoured van with a police escort before dawn and were taken to Denpasar airport for a flight to the Javanese port of Cilacap for the trip to Nusakambangan, witnesses said.

Armoured vans boarded a boat in Cilacap and the Australians arrived at Nusakambangan soon after.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he was “revolted by the prospect of these executions”, after Indonesian President Joko Widodo recently told others to stay out of his country’s sovereign affairs. Widodo has adopted a tough stance against drug traffickers. — Reuters