Monday 27 April 2015

Nigerian & the rest of the Bali 9 condemned to die on Wednesday refuse to sign death warrants

The seven coffins are laid out in a holding area in Cilacap, before being transported to Death Island

Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran will be executed just after the stroke of midnight on Wednesday (3am AEST), it has been confirmed.
The date - April 29 - became official when a local funeral director in Cilacap, the nearest port to Nusakambangan, or Death Island, was instructed to inscribe the names of those to be shot by firing squad and the date of their deaths.
Chan and Sukumaran both refused to sign their execution warrants when they were given 72 hours notice of their deaths during official proceedings on Saturday, saying they believed it would be unjust to kill them.
This comes as images from Nusakambangan showed a haunting self portrait painted by Sukumaran in his cell on Saturday, titled '72hrs just started' and depicting the artist shot through the heart. 

On Saturday, the Bali Nine duo and other death row inmates were given 72 hours notice ahead of their deaths, when prosecutors were called to Nusakambangan to finalise the execution papers.
When asked to sign his papers, Sukumaran refused and told officials he believed he had been rehabilitated and that he had been doing positive work in prison.
'When he received the 72 hours notice he remained dignified and peaceful. He spoke with courtesy and clarity to a hushed room explaining why he felt to proceed to execution was unjust,' the pair's lawyer Julian McMahon told News Corp. 

Mr McMahon said Chan also refused to sign the papers, explaining that he had been rehabilitated in the 10 years he had spent in prison. 

The funeral director also ordered wooden crosses, pillows, satin covers and sets of cross-shaped coffin nails, individually bagged the way that furniture stores package their screws

Funeral director Suhendra Putro, on Sunday was busily stencilling crosses and putting finishing touches to writing the names of the Christian victims and the dates of their deaths, reports The Herald Sun. 
As well as the names of the two Australians, the names of Brazilian national Rodrigo Gularte, Nigerian, Okwudili Ayotanze, and Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso of the Philippines, were also written in white on the wooden crosses. The date '29.04.15' was also written in white ink and the letters 'RIP'. 
The condemned inmates will be killed after the stroke of midnight on Tuesday night-Wednesday morning.
This was further confirmed by Utomo Karim, the lawyer for a Nigerian prisoner facing the firing squad, and also in a letter sent to Filipina maid Veloso. 
‘Each convict on death row was called in one by one, for between 30 minutes to one hour, it varied,’ Mr Karim said.
‘My client (Nigerian Raheem Agbaje Salami) was notified of the day of the execution, it will be (just after midnight on) Tuesday night.’
Mr Karim added that the six others were also told the countdown to their execution had started.

‘My client has received a notification letter that in 72 hours there will be an execution,' said Mr Karim.
‘Families will have time to visit Nusakambangan until Tuesday 2pm ... it will be carried out on later on Tuesday after midnight.’ 
This comes amid reports the judges who sentenced Chan and Sukumaran to death were allegedly willing to give them a more lenient sentence in return for bribes of more than $130,000, but later changed their minds and demanded more money after senior government figures ordered them to impose the death penalty.
Bali-based lawyer Muhammad Rifan said he had meetings with judges, who allegedly started demanding more money to deliver a prison sentence of 20 years or less saying it was 'risky', Fairfax reported.
Mr Rifan said he believed the judges were bluffing, a mistake he now fears will turn out to be fatal after the death penalty was handed down. 
.
Australian Prime Minister,Tony Abbott, is due to meet French leader Francios Hollande on Monday, having pledged to work together to stop the executions, while UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has added his voice to global calls to halt the execution plans.
But Indonesia's President Joko Widodo appears to have closed his ears to calls for mercy from the families and the world.
Before leaving for a summit in Malaysia on Sunday, the president known as Jokowi told reporters: 'I've already talked several times about it, I don't want to talk about it again,' news website Rappler reported.

It is unclear how many of the 10 prisoners Indonesia's has readied for execution will face the firing squad, with reports Frenchman Serge Atlaoui has been granted a reprieve.
Chan's comments from four years ago reflected the grief seen on his loved ones' faces as they made one of their final journeys to see the convicted drug smugglers.
Chan told AAP their imprisonment had 'obviously affected our families the most'. 
'Imagine your mother, or you know, your father picking up that telephone call,' he said.
'It's heartbreaking. It's obviously harder on them than it is on yourself.
'You obviously look at yourself and you say to yourself, "I've really screwed up big time".
'It's not right you know. A mother's not supposed to bury their kid. Obviously a kid is supposed to bury their mother.' 

Despite testimonials to their rehabilitation behind bars from prison governors to politicians, academics and Australian artist Ben Quilty, repeated legal appeals and calls for a reprieve have failed.
Chan and Sukumaran, convicted in 2005 for their role in a plot to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin from Bali to Australia, were given the official 72 hours notice on Saturday that means they could face the firing squad on Tuesday.
Although the date has not been set, Indonesian authorities said the pair will be among a group of death-row prisoners executed this week. 

Last ditch efforts to save the pair have also been launched by not-for-profit organisations, such as Amnesty International.
Earlier, Australian embassy officials were called to Cilacap, the port town closest to Nusakambangan where the Bali Nine pair are now jailed, for a meeting about Indonesia's execution plans.

The embassy of the Philippines was called to the same Saturday meeting, along with France, Brazil and Nigeria, who all have citizens listed to face the firing squad.

Indonesian officials say the Cilicap meeting signals the beginning of the 'execution process'.
On Thursday, Indonesia's head of General Crimes sent letters to the prosecutors of all 10 prisoners and ordered preparations be made for their executions.

The lawyer for Nigerian man Raheem Salamim, who is sharing a cell block with Chan and Sukumaran on Nusakambangan, confirmed Thursday the Nigerian Embassy had also received a letter summoning officials to Cilacap.
'Based on experience from the previous execution, they're going to tell them the date for the execution,' lawyer Utomo Karim said.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo earlier confirmed the executions were 'only a matter of time'.
President Widodo told Indonesian news agency Antara while he would not interfere with the inmates' outstanding legal appeals, the executions would take place upon their conclusion.
'When it will be done is no longer a question,' he said.  'It is only awaiting the conclusion of all procedures and the legal process, which I will not interfere in. It is only a matter of time.' 













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