Alan Jones, Asher Keddie, David Wenham and Wendy Whiteley are among dozens of high-profile Australians lining up to say “I stand for mercy” in a video plea for clemency for the Bali Nine condemned drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
The video was put together by artist Ben Quilty for the Mercy campaign, and said the response to his callout for famous supporters to appear in it was “overwhelming”.
Around 30 prominent Australians lent their voice to the campaign, including Germaine Greer, Missy Higgins and Richard Roxburgh, and another longer clip with more celebrities is currently being edited together.
The clip pleads with Indonesia to let Chan and Sukumaran live, and invites viewers to sign a petition.
The two men, who were sentenced to death for drug trafficking in 2005, have in recent weeks both had their appeals for presidential clemency rejected.
Quilty, who has formed a friendship with Sukumaran and helps him run an art studio for other inmates at the prison, told Guardian Australia he wants more people who oppose the death penalty and support the Australians to come forward.
He has seen “callous and bizarre” responses from Australians who say the pair deserve to be executed.
“I just want these boys to have dignity, and I want them to know that there are a lot of Australians on their side,” said Quilty.
“I often think that people who are on their side are very quiet and now is the time for us to speak up so we do support these two young men and we are with them on this path.”
Quilty said he was “incredulous” until he met Sukumaran, but has seen the men’s rehabilitation and said the Indonesians should be “congratulated” on it.
“They’ve done 10 years in there, they’ve built lives for themselves in there, they speak fluent Indonesian,” said Quilty. “I think it’s a model Australian prisons should look at.”
Quilty said the Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop has been working hard on the Australians’ cases and was in touch with the families. He said he could not fault her efforts.
Prime minister Tony Abbott has also stepped up his public appeals to Indonesia on behalf of the men.
“While Australia respects Indonesia’s sovereignty, we are asking that Indonesia reconsider its decision to execute two Australian citizens,” Abbott said in a statement.
Earlier on Sunday it was reported Bali’s pro-death penalty governor doesn’t want the two men executed on his island, believing it may spoil the harmonious climate.
Indonesian president Joko Widodo has said 20 of Indonesia’s 64 convicted drug traffickers in prison will be executed by the end of the year. Six people were executed by firing squad last week, with the next round expected to take place in the next few weeks. Widodo has said that both Australian men should be killed together.
