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Bali 9 Chan and Sukumaran arrive on prison island

Australian death row inmates Sukumaran and Chan arrive
in Cilacap, Indonesia. Photo: ABC
Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan have arrived at the island where it is expected they will be executed.

Earlier, two Sukhoi jets left Bali ahead of the Wings airplane that was chartered to take the Australians to the seaside town of Cilacap, Central Java, which is the departure point for Nusakambangan island, where the executions will take place.

Sukumaran reportedly boarded the plane ahead of Chan, who said: 'Goodbye Bali'.

Indonesia is yet to announce when the pair and eight other drug offenders will be executed.

Sukumaran and Chan did not say a word when they were taken from Kerobokan prison for execution, authorities say.

Two armoured vehicles known as barracudas took the men from the Bali jail in the pre-dawn dark of Wednesday morning.

Komang Gede Tri Utama Aria, of Bali Provincial Law and Human Rights Office, said prison guards entered the men's cells to remove them.

'When they were picked up from cells, they didn't seem tense, they were relaxed,' he said.

'There was no fighting.'

Prison governor Sudjonggo said the Bali Nine pair were aware it was time to go when guards entered the supermax cells.

'We didn't have to say 'wake up! Wake up,' they knew it was the morning because we had told them during the night.' The pair washed quickly and were dressed in less than ten minutes.

After some administrative procedures, the Australians were handcuffed and taken to separate armoured vehicles each with 10 heavily-armed police.

Nyoman Putra Surya, Head of the Corrections Division at Bali Provincial Law and Human Rights Office said the men thanked authorities for their care while they were in Bali.

'They were ready,' he said.

'They even said thank you.'

Mr Nyoman said the men smiled and shook their hands before they were searched and handcuffed.

The pair said 'not a word'.

'We handcuffed them, they were silent,' he said.

'We handcuffed them to the front. We didn't cover their eyes.

'We treated them well.'

Mr Nyoman defended the decision not to allow Chan's brother Michael into the jail as he men were leaving.

'Yesterday, we gave all day,' he said.

'Today was not visiting time.

'We gave the maximum chances last week.


Source: SkyNews Australia, March 4, 2015


Bali Nine duo placed in isolation on ‘death island’

Andrew Chan arrives in Cilacap, Central Java.
Australian drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran have been placed in isolation cells in Central Java while they wait for news about the timing of their executions.

Chan and Sukumaran finished their journey to the port of Cilacap shortly before 9am (local time), after being taken out of Bali’s Kerobokan prison in a police armoured vehicle before dawn this morning.

The men were then taken off the plane in Java and driven to Cilacap, where they were put on a ferry for the short journey to the Nusakambangan island prison, where they are due to be executed.

Their transfer, in paramilitary vehicles with a helicopter overhead and elite guards, was a relative show of strength compared to the third prisoner transferred on Wednesday – an Indonesian drug trafficker who came in a little van.

An announcement on the timing of the executions could be made within hours or days, but Indonesian attorney-general Muhammad Prasetyo is required to give them 72 hours’ notice.

The attorney-general said the process would be carried through properly and not rushed, and that was why no execution date had been set.

Mr Prasetyo said some of those on the list to be executed were yet to be moved to Nusakambangan.

Lawyer Peter Morrissey said the Australians were now going through a “very serious” process of dealing with the news they might be at the end of their lives.

Chan and Sukumaran were handling it, he said: “But they don’t have much choice”.

“It’s not like somebody who has an injury before a football game or something like that where they say I’m devastated,” he told ABC Television on Wednesday.

“They’re coming to terms with that and trying to make sure their community around them and families are with them, supporting them and not too upset.

“It’s a very raw time for them.”

Click here to read the full article

Source: The Daily News, March 4, 2015


Bali nine's Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan could be executed this weekend after transfer

Armoured police vehicles carrying the two Australian prisoners
are unloaded from a ferry on the prison island of Nusakambangan.
Photo: Reuters
Cilacap: Bali nine ringleaders Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan are waiting to die on Nusakambangan island, with the Indonesian Attorney-General expected to announce they will be killed as early as this weekend.

The Australians were on Wednesday transferred to the penal island known as Indonesia's Alcatraz in a massive display of military might.

Chan and Sukumaran, who will be executed with eight other drug felons, will be given 72 hours' notice of their deaths.

Attorney-General H. M. Prasetyo is expected to hold a news conference on Friday to announce the timing of the executions.

This could mean they would be held as early as Sunday night. Executions in Indonesia are usually held at midnight.

Asked on Wednesday if the executions would take place this week, Mr Prasetyo said "We will see", adding that he was waiting on the latest report on the killing field, the firing squad and the religious counsellors who will accompany the prisoners in their final hours.

He has repeatedly said the executions would be held as soon as possible once all those facing the firing squad were on Nusakambangan. This is because prison authorities are concerned about the unsettling effect of condemned men and women on other prisoners.

The Australian government, which was not informed of the plan to transfer Chan and Sukumaran on Wednesday, warned of repercussions if the men were executed.

Click here to read the full article (+video)

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald, Jewel Topsfield, March 4, 2015


A Look At Indonesia’s Prison Island: Nusakambangan

Pasir Putih supermax prison, where death row prisoners are
housed, on Nusakambangan Island, Central Java.
As Indonesia prepares to execute a number of convicted drug smugglers, attention has turned to the place where they’ll face the firing squad, a small island off the southern coast of Central Java called Nusakambangan.

Home to Indonesia’s highest security prison, the jail island is separated from the mainland by a strait and is sometimes referred to as Indonesia’s Alcatraz. The island is part of Tambakreja village in Cilacap district, though it falls under the administration of the Justice and Human Rights Ministry.

“It became known as Prison Island during the Dutch [colonial] era,” officially taking that name in 1912, said M. Akbar Hadiprabowo, spokesman for the ministry’s directorate general of penitentiaries. In 1922, the government issued a decree that defined Nusakambangan as a prison and restricted its access to the public.

Decades later, in 1995, the justice ministry opened the island to visitors. Though it’s not a prime tourism destination, the ministry says tourists are welcome to enjoy the island’s scenery, which it says includes several quiet beaches and forest areas complete with deer and many bird species.

Muhammad Yusuf, a 33 year-old entrepreneur from Solo, visited Nusakambangan in 2011 to enjoy Permisan beach and the surrounding forest.

“Tourists are allowed to visit the southern part of the island,” he said. “The forest is very pretty, I went forest trekking.”

The prison, however, is under heavy guard, and visitors need special permission from the ministry to enter the prison complex. Guards escort visitors from the main land to the island.

Click here to read the full article

Source: Indonesia Real Time, WSJ, Anita Rachman, March 4, 2015

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