Bali Nine kin begs for little brother’s life

JAKARTA: The brother of an Australian on death row in Indonesia appealed on national television to President Joko Widodo to spare the drug smuggler’s life, as Jakarta braced to move 10 convicts to their final destination.

The 10 felons, including 31-year-old Australian Andrew Chan, will be transferred this week to an island prison for death by firing squad, authorities said on Monday.

“The transfers will be completed this week,” attorney-general spokesman Tony Spontana said.

Mr Chan and fellow Australian Myuran Sukumaran, 33— the ringleaders of the socalled “Bali Nine” drug trafficking gang— were convicted of trying to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia in 2005 and sentenced to death the following year.

They recently lost their appeals for presidential clemency— typically a death row convict’s last chance of avoiding the firing squad.

The pair’s families have called on Mr Widodo for mercy, arguing the men have reformed after years in prison. On Sunday, Mr Chan’s older brother, Michael, made a fresh appeal.

“I would say to Mr President Jokowi that as a family we are very sorry for this situation and we apologise for Andrew,” he told Indonesia’s TV One, using Mr Widodo’s nickname. “It has brought a lot of unnecessary shame to the Indonesian people and their country.”

“Andrew is a changed man from 10 years ago,” he added, pleading for a “second chance”.

Chan and Sukumaran “have embraced Indonesian culture [and] way of life and they are very sorry for the things they have done”, he said.

On Monday, the head of the Bali prosecutor’s office, Momock Bambang Samiarso, said the two will be transferred this week from their jail on the resort island to a prison off Java, where they will be shot.

The executions, originally scheduled for February, were delayed because isolation cells on the Nusakambangaan penal island off Java were still being built.

Canberra has pleaded with Jakarta to change course, and Prime Minister Tony Abbott last week offered a glimmer of hope after talking to Mr Widodo, saying the leader was “carefully considering his position”.

However, Mr Widodo later shot down the suggestion, insisting Indonesia’s stance on the pending executions was “clear”.

The Australians are among a group of foreigners, including a Frenchman and a Brazilian, who have lost appeals and face imminent execution. Other death-row inmates hail from France, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria and the Philippines.

Brazil and France are also ramping up pressure on Jakarta, with Paris summoning the Indonesian envoy and the Brazilian president refusing to accept the credentials of the newly minted Indonesian ambassador.

Australia says Mr Chan and Mr Sukumaran should be spared on the grounds that they are fully rehabilitated, while Brazil alleges Mr Gularte is mentally ill.

Mr Widodo says he will not grant clemency to drug traffickers because Indonesia faces a drug emergency.

Six death-row drug traffickers were executed in January.