Abbott in clemency call for two facing a Bali firing squad
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott pleaded with Indonesia to heed his country's call for clemency for two death-row convicts, and warned that Canberra would make its displeasure known should the executions go ahead.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott pleaded yesterday with Indonesia to heed his country's call for clemency for two death-row convicts, and warned that Canberra would make its displeasure known should the executions go ahead.
No date for the executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran has been released but an Indonesian official said governments with prisoners on death row had been invited to a meeting with the Foreign Ministry today.
Chan, 31, and Sukumaran, 33, are facing execution by firing squad as ringleaders of the so-called Bali Nine group trafficking heroin from Bali into Australia.
"Millions of Australians are feeling very, very upset about what may soon happen to two Australians in Indonesia," Abbott said in Sydney.
"And my plea, even at this late stage, is for Indonesia to be as responsive to us as it expects other countries to be to them when they plead for the life of their citizens on death row overseas."
Australian media reported that there were 360 Indonesians on death row around the world, including in Malaysia, Singapore, China, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with 230 of these on drug charges.
In an interview with , Abbott also noted that Australia had stood by close neighbour Indonesia in times of need, particularly after the devastating 2004 Asian tsunami.
