Australia PM pleads with Indonesia over death row men

SYDNEY, Australia—Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Saturday pleaded with Indonesia to heed Australia’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 speaks during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra on Feb. 9. AFP

No date for the executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran has been released but an Indonesian official said governments with death row prisoners had been invited to a meeting with the foreign ministry on Monday.

Chan, 31, and Sukumaran, 33, are facing execution by firing squad as ring leaders of the so-called Bali Nine group trafficking heroin from Indonesia’s island of Bali into Australia.

“Millions of Australians are feeling very, very upset about what may soon happen to two Australians in Indonesia,” Abbott told reporters 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 are 360 Indonesians on death row around the world, including in Malaysia, Singapore, China, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with 230 of these on drugs charges.

Abbott, in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, also noted that Australia had stood by close neighbor Indonesia in times of need, particularly after the devastating 2004 Asian tsunami.

“We abhor the death penalty, we regard it as barbaric,” he told the paper.

Asked whether Canberra would withdraw Australian officials if the executions go ahead, Abbott said: “We will find ways of making our displeasure known.”

“We respect Indonesia’s sovereignty but we would very much appreciate an act of magnanimity in this case,” he added.