Bali Nine duo Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were moved from Kerobokan prison under heavy police guard this morning, on their way to the island where they will be killed.
Tony Abbott is right that millions of Australians are feeling sick in the guts about what is happening today.
This morning Julie Bishop said “Indonesia understands there will be consequences” should the executions go ahead. But despite considerable international pressure, it’s unlikely that the Indonesian government is seriously weighing the international costs of President Joko Widodo’s recent decision to execute all foreigners on death row.
What is clear is that if Widodo continues to actively pursue the death penalty for foreigners, it will likely have deadly consequences for the many of his own citizens who are on death row abroad. (Indonesia has already been accused of double standards for paying blood money to Saudi Arabia to save its own citizens from the death penalty, but refusing to countenance clemency for Chan and Sukumaran.)
Maybe after their needless deaths, and the subsequent blowback in his own country, the president will change his mind. But by then it will be too late for these two young men, and the dozens of others on death row in Indonesia.
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