Tuesday, April 28, 2015 10:35:49 PM
Bali Nine: Indonesia executes eight prisoners but reprieves Mary Jane Veloso – as it happened
Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran and six other men are executed by firing squad, as Filipina Mary Jane Velosa wins a last-minute reprieve
* This live blog has finished. Click here to read the latest updates
http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/apr/29/execution-bali-nine-pair-six-others-indonesia-angry-reaction-live
* Who are the eight people executed by Indonesia?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/29/bali-nine-who-are-the-nine-people-being-executed-by-indonesia
* Read the latest summary
http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/apr/28/bali-nine-andrew-chan-myuran-sukumaran-executed-indonesia-mercy#block-553fe7bae4b03fd319c9590c
Claire Phipps, Michael Safi and Calla Wahlquist
Tuesday 28 April 2015 16.37 EDT
Brintha Sukumaran (C), sister of Australian prisoner Myuran Sukumaran, screams as she
arrives to visit her brother ahead of the executions. Photograph: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images
http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/apr/28/bali-nine-andrew-chan-myuran-sukumaran-executed-indonesia-mercy
---
Bali nine pair Chan and Sukumaran choose their execution witnesses
Jewel Topsfield Date April 28, 2015
On death row: (from top left) Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, Frenchman Serge Atlaoui and Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte,
(bottom row) Nigerian Raheem Agbaje Salami, Filipina Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, and Nigerian Silvester Obiekwe Nwolise. Photo: AFP
The diplomatic fallout has begun with former Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono cancelling a three-day trip to Perth.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/bali-nine-pair-chan-and-sukumaran-choose-their-execution-witnesses-20150427-1mu618.html
Filipina Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso gained a late hour reprieve this time.
---
Could the AFP have prevented the arrests of the Bali 9 in Indonesia?
[ The answer is YES ]
VIDEO
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 17/02/2015
Reporter: Jason Om
As Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran wait for final word on their executions, resentment
lingers over the Australian Federal Police's role in the arrests of the Bali 9
Transcript
SABRA LANE, PRESENTER: The plight of Australia's death row prisoners in Bali has taken yet another turn, with the Indonesian authorities delaying plans to transfer them to the island where they'll face a firing squad.
Indonesia's Attorney-General says the delay is in response to Australian requests to allow Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran to spend more time with their families, but it doesn't mean their executions will be delayed.
While last-ditch efforts to save their lives continue, there are growing calls for the Australian Federal Police to explain why they handed over the Bali Nine to their Indonesian counterparts knowing they could face the death penalty.
Shortly we'll hear from the former Foreign minister Bob Carr, but first, Jason Om follows the trail that sealed the Bali Nine's fate.
JASON OM, REPORTER: These are the now-infamous scenes that captured the world's attention in 2005. Nine Australians caught trying to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia in a plan that came unstuck thanks to a tipoff from the Australian Federal Police.
The AFP had given their names and flight details to the Indonesians, leading to their dramatic arrest.
Now with two of the Bali Nine facing the firing squad, some blame the AFP for their predicament.
DAMIEN KINGSBURY, DEAKIN UNIVERSITY: The AFP had the information at hand. They could easily have arrested the Bali Nine when they arrived in Australia. They had all of the flight details. They knew the nine and the heroin was coming to Australia and it would have been easier for them to have done that then.
BOB MYERS, FMR BARRISTER FOR RUSH FAMILY: Of course it's their responsibility and if that puts blood on their hands, that puts blood on their hands.
JASON OM: As the families of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran deal with their impending executions, the Federal Police have been busy hosing down criticism of their role in the men's fate, including the man who led the Australian operation into the Bali Nine.
JOURNALIST: Would you change anything that you did nine years ago about tipping off the Indonesian authorities?
MICHAEL PHELAN, AFP DEPUTY COMMISSIONER (Feb. 11): Look, I know that - I'm very cognisant of the public interest in this matter, particularly now, but it would be absolutely inappropriate and for reasons that no doubt you're aware, that we would go into operational details of what occurred 10 years ago around this particular operation. At the moment we're focusing on the clemency issues, so it's entirely inappropriate for me to talk about the operation itself.
JASON OM: In early 2005, as Bali Nine member Scott Rush was about to head off to Indonesia, his father Lee became worried about what he was up to. Lee Rush rang his friend, barrister Bob Myers.
BOB MYERS: I thought immediately, not knowing anything about it, was that perhaps he was going to be smuggling drugs into Indonesia and exposing himself to the death penalty.
JASON OM: Bob Myers rang a contact in the AFP and says he was assured the young man would be intercepted before he left Australia.
BOB MYERS: I accepted when the AFP said what they were going to do, that they would have done it. But as it now transpires, they didn't want me to mess up their sting, in effect.
JASON OM: The AFP was already aware something was afoot. It seems Bob Myers' tipoff played a part. Just days later, the Bali Nine were arrested.
BOB MYERS: Lee was begging me to do something and in effect I was conveying that notion of Lee's to the AFP and they just really ignored it because as they saw it, the bigger picture - and I don't know what the bigger picture is - for 10 years the AFP haven't come clean with what the bigger picture was. So simple question: why was the AFP prepared to sacrifice nine Australian lives? Simple question and there has to be a simple answer. Because in the big picture, they were nine kids that we didn't mind handing over by way of an offering to our Indonesian counterparts to curry some sort of favour. Why won't they say it?
JASON OM: Letters from the AFP to the Indonesian police revealed the names of the Bali Nine, except for Myuran Sukumaran.
DAMIEN KINGSBURY: Indonesian police at that time were providing the AFP with information regarding Islamist terrorism and Jemaah Islamiyah at the time was a significant problem. And I think that there was very little information going back to the Indonesian police, so, in a way, this would have been the AFP giving the Indonesian police a free kick.
JASON OM: Lawyers for four of the Bali Nine later went to the Federal Court arguing the AFP had broken the law. But Justice Paul Finn disagreed, finding the AFP had acted lawfully. However, Justice Finn recommended a review of THE international protocols.
PAUL FINN, FEDERAL COURT JUSTICE (2006): There is a need for the minister administering the Australian Federal Police Act (1979) and the Commissioner of Police to address the procedures and protocols followed by members of the AFP.
DAMIEN KINGSBURY: In that there might be any ambiguity around those guidelines, the Australian Government should make it absolutely clear that this is inappropriate, and if legislation is required, then that legislation needs to be passed.
JASON OM: While the legal questions may have been settled in court, some say there are still moral and political questions. In light of Australia's opposition to the death penalty, should the Federal Police be allowed to share information that could lead to the execution of Australians convicted overseas?
GREG FEALY, ASSOC. PROF., ANU: The Australian Federal Police I think should not be placing Australians at risk of a firing squad by passing on information to the Indonesians.
JASON OM: The Federal Police Commissioner at the time was Mick Keelty and he was unrepentant about the AFP's complicity.
MICK KEELTY, AFP COMMISSIONER (2006): Co-operation means exactly that. I mean, you can't half-co-operate. Partnerships mean - if you're in partnership, you look after your partner, you look after not only the good things, you have to look after sometimes decisions that don't go in the way you might want them and you have to accept that because sovereignty is clearly a key issue to the way jurisdictions will operate when we're talking about transnational and global crime.
JASON OM: Last week, the former Foreign Affairs minister Bob Carr said the AFP needed to explain themselves.
GRAHAM ASHTON, AFP DEPUTY COMMISSIONER (Feb. 13): The AFP doesn't have blood on its hands, but the important thing is that we agree in terms of Mr Carr's general point that we need to say more, but the timing around when we say more is most important. And it's our view at the moment that we best not talk about that matter publicly until these current clemency matters are being dealt with. We don't want to say anything that is going to potentially negatively influence that affect.
DAMIEN KINGSBURY: The situation in 2005 is inexplicable and frankly inexcusable. A very significant proportion of the responsibility for the impending deaths of Chan and Sukumaran lies at the feet of the AFP.
SABRA LANE: Jason Om reporting.
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4181991.htm
Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran and six other men are executed by firing squad, as Filipina Mary Jane Velosa wins a last-minute reprieve
* This live blog has finished. Click here to read the latest updates
http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/apr/29/execution-bali-nine-pair-six-others-indonesia-angry-reaction-live
* Who are the eight people executed by Indonesia?
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/29/bali-nine-who-are-the-nine-people-being-executed-by-indonesia
* Read the latest summary
http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/apr/28/bali-nine-andrew-chan-myuran-sukumaran-executed-indonesia-mercy#block-553fe7bae4b03fd319c9590c
Claire Phipps, Michael Safi and Calla Wahlquist
Tuesday 28 April 2015 16.37 EDT
Brintha Sukumaran (C), sister of Australian prisoner Myuran Sukumaran, screams as she
arrives to visit her brother ahead of the executions. Photograph: Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images
http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/apr/28/bali-nine-andrew-chan-myuran-sukumaran-executed-indonesia-mercy
---
Bali nine pair Chan and Sukumaran choose their execution witnesses
Jewel Topsfield Date April 28, 2015
On death row: (from top left) Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, Frenchman Serge Atlaoui and Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte,
(bottom row) Nigerian Raheem Agbaje Salami, Filipina Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, and Nigerian Silvester Obiekwe Nwolise. Photo: AFP
The diplomatic fallout has begun with former Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono cancelling a three-day trip to Perth.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/bali-nine-pair-chan-and-sukumaran-choose-their-execution-witnesses-20150427-1mu618.html
Filipina Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso gained a late hour reprieve this time.
---
Could the AFP have prevented the arrests of the Bali 9 in Indonesia?
[ The answer is YES ]
VIDEO
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Broadcast: 17/02/2015
Reporter: Jason Om
As Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran wait for final word on their executions, resentment
lingers over the Australian Federal Police's role in the arrests of the Bali 9
Transcript
SABRA LANE, PRESENTER: The plight of Australia's death row prisoners in Bali has taken yet another turn, with the Indonesian authorities delaying plans to transfer them to the island where they'll face a firing squad.
Indonesia's Attorney-General says the delay is in response to Australian requests to allow Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran to spend more time with their families, but it doesn't mean their executions will be delayed.
While last-ditch efforts to save their lives continue, there are growing calls for the Australian Federal Police to explain why they handed over the Bali Nine to their Indonesian counterparts knowing they could face the death penalty.
Shortly we'll hear from the former Foreign minister Bob Carr, but first, Jason Om follows the trail that sealed the Bali Nine's fate.
JASON OM, REPORTER: These are the now-infamous scenes that captured the world's attention in 2005. Nine Australians caught trying to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia in a plan that came unstuck thanks to a tipoff from the Australian Federal Police.
The AFP had given their names and flight details to the Indonesians, leading to their dramatic arrest.
Now with two of the Bali Nine facing the firing squad, some blame the AFP for their predicament.
DAMIEN KINGSBURY, DEAKIN UNIVERSITY: The AFP had the information at hand. They could easily have arrested the Bali Nine when they arrived in Australia. They had all of the flight details. They knew the nine and the heroin was coming to Australia and it would have been easier for them to have done that then.
BOB MYERS, FMR BARRISTER FOR RUSH FAMILY: Of course it's their responsibility and if that puts blood on their hands, that puts blood on their hands.
JASON OM: As the families of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran deal with their impending executions, the Federal Police have been busy hosing down criticism of their role in the men's fate, including the man who led the Australian operation into the Bali Nine.
JOURNALIST: Would you change anything that you did nine years ago about tipping off the Indonesian authorities?
MICHAEL PHELAN, AFP DEPUTY COMMISSIONER (Feb. 11): Look, I know that - I'm very cognisant of the public interest in this matter, particularly now, but it would be absolutely inappropriate and for reasons that no doubt you're aware, that we would go into operational details of what occurred 10 years ago around this particular operation. At the moment we're focusing on the clemency issues, so it's entirely inappropriate for me to talk about the operation itself.
JASON OM: In early 2005, as Bali Nine member Scott Rush was about to head off to Indonesia, his father Lee became worried about what he was up to. Lee Rush rang his friend, barrister Bob Myers.
BOB MYERS: I thought immediately, not knowing anything about it, was that perhaps he was going to be smuggling drugs into Indonesia and exposing himself to the death penalty.
JASON OM: Bob Myers rang a contact in the AFP and says he was assured the young man would be intercepted before he left Australia.
BOB MYERS: I accepted when the AFP said what they were going to do, that they would have done it. But as it now transpires, they didn't want me to mess up their sting, in effect.
JASON OM: The AFP was already aware something was afoot. It seems Bob Myers' tipoff played a part. Just days later, the Bali Nine were arrested.
BOB MYERS: Lee was begging me to do something and in effect I was conveying that notion of Lee's to the AFP and they just really ignored it because as they saw it, the bigger picture - and I don't know what the bigger picture is - for 10 years the AFP haven't come clean with what the bigger picture was. So simple question: why was the AFP prepared to sacrifice nine Australian lives? Simple question and there has to be a simple answer. Because in the big picture, they were nine kids that we didn't mind handing over by way of an offering to our Indonesian counterparts to curry some sort of favour. Why won't they say it?
JASON OM: Letters from the AFP to the Indonesian police revealed the names of the Bali Nine, except for Myuran Sukumaran.
DAMIEN KINGSBURY: Indonesian police at that time were providing the AFP with information regarding Islamist terrorism and Jemaah Islamiyah at the time was a significant problem. And I think that there was very little information going back to the Indonesian police, so, in a way, this would have been the AFP giving the Indonesian police a free kick.
JASON OM: Lawyers for four of the Bali Nine later went to the Federal Court arguing the AFP had broken the law. But Justice Paul Finn disagreed, finding the AFP had acted lawfully. However, Justice Finn recommended a review of THE international protocols.
PAUL FINN, FEDERAL COURT JUSTICE (2006): There is a need for the minister administering the Australian Federal Police Act (1979) and the Commissioner of Police to address the procedures and protocols followed by members of the AFP.
DAMIEN KINGSBURY: In that there might be any ambiguity around those guidelines, the Australian Government should make it absolutely clear that this is inappropriate, and if legislation is required, then that legislation needs to be passed.
JASON OM: While the legal questions may have been settled in court, some say there are still moral and political questions. In light of Australia's opposition to the death penalty, should the Federal Police be allowed to share information that could lead to the execution of Australians convicted overseas?
GREG FEALY, ASSOC. PROF., ANU: The Australian Federal Police I think should not be placing Australians at risk of a firing squad by passing on information to the Indonesians.
JASON OM: The Federal Police Commissioner at the time was Mick Keelty and he was unrepentant about the AFP's complicity.
MICK KEELTY, AFP COMMISSIONER (2006): Co-operation means exactly that. I mean, you can't half-co-operate. Partnerships mean - if you're in partnership, you look after your partner, you look after not only the good things, you have to look after sometimes decisions that don't go in the way you might want them and you have to accept that because sovereignty is clearly a key issue to the way jurisdictions will operate when we're talking about transnational and global crime.
JASON OM: Last week, the former Foreign Affairs minister Bob Carr said the AFP needed to explain themselves.
GRAHAM ASHTON, AFP DEPUTY COMMISSIONER (Feb. 13): The AFP doesn't have blood on its hands, but the important thing is that we agree in terms of Mr Carr's general point that we need to say more, but the timing around when we say more is most important. And it's our view at the moment that we best not talk about that matter publicly until these current clemency matters are being dealt with. We don't want to say anything that is going to potentially negatively influence that affect.
DAMIEN KINGSBURY: The situation in 2005 is inexplicable and frankly inexcusable. A very significant proportion of the responsibility for the impending deaths of Chan and Sukumaran lies at the feet of the AFP.
SABRA LANE: Jason Om reporting.
http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2015/s4181991.htm
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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