Bill Shorten has said the opposition stands “shoulder to shoulder” with the Australian government in its appeal to Indonesia for clemency to stop the execution of two Bali Nine members.
Tony Abbott, who is on holiday, has reportedly made another direct plea to the Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, asking him to spare Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan the firing squad.
In a statement on Sunday, a spokeswoman for the prime minister said Australia would continue to make representations to the Indonesian government to avoid the execution of the two men.
Widodo is yet to make a final decision on Chan’s appeal for presidential clemency, while Sukumaran had his plea rejected last month.
Shorten spoke on Sunday following the overnight execution by firing squad of five other foreigners and an Indonesian woman convicted of drugs charges. He described the executions as “dreadful news”.
Sukumaran’s and Chan’s appeal was hanging “delicately in the balance”, Shorten said, adding he did not want to say anything that may inflame the situation.
“I believe the [Chan and Sukumuran] families, supported by their lawyers, are doing what they can, and at a time like this there has to be a unanimous voice from Australia that we would like clemency extended to Australians in Indonesian jails,” he said.
“I and Labor do not support the death penalty, and we and the government stand shoulder to shoulder on this issue. We will work with the government to make sure clemency is extended to Australians who are facing this most dreadful prospect in coming days and weeks.”
Last week Indonesia’s attorney-general, HM Prasetyo, said the pair would be dealt with together.
“When a crime is committed by more than one person the execution must be conducted at the same time,” he told reporters in Jakarta. “So Myuran will wait for his turn.”
Shorten said he was not denying that Chan and Sukumuran, convicted after attempting to traffic traffic more than 8kg of heroin to Australia, had broken the law.
“But the death penalty is something which Australia outlawed in 1984 and Labor is seeking, along with the government, clemency for these Australians,” he said.
Dr Dave McRae, a senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Asia Institute, said the executions overnight, along with Widodo’s repeated rhetoric of a “drugs emergency”, put anyone on death row for narcotics in a very precarious position.
But this did not mean clemency hopes were lost, he said. “Indonesia has halted executions in the past when it has looked set to carry out more,” McRae said.
“I think international pressure is important, criticising all executions, not just of each country’s own citizens. It’s important too that abolitionists within Indonesia continue to emphasise that executions are not a proven solution to drugs crime.”
The Australians’ names are on a list of 20 prisoners expected to be next in line for execution.
An ongoing petition launched by the Mercy Campaign has also called on the Indonesian government to spare their lives.
Mercy Campaign co-founder, Matthew Goldberg, said in light of the deaths overnight, it was now clear Widodo is prepared to preside over executions.
It reinforced the urgency with which the Australians’ cases need to be treated, he said.
“Fortunately they both have a very strong claim to clemency given the profound contribution that they have made to education and rehabilitation projects in prison,” Goldberg said.
“We need president Widodo to learn more about Andrew and Myuran, the years that they’ve spent apologising, working, sharing and changing, because it’s quite clear that no good come of their execution.”
