Family members of Bali Nine prisoner Andrew Chan visited Kerobokan prison on Monday ahead of a decision by the courts on a last ditch appeal to save Chan and fellow prisoner Myuran Sukumaran from the firing squad.
It was the second visit in as many days for Chan’s family who also came on Sunday with Sukumaran’s family. Visits are normally only allowed on weekdays.
The final avenue of appeal, known as a PK, was successfully filed on Friday morning on behalf of Chan and Sukumaran, amid legal disagreements between Indonesia’s two highest courts over whether prisoners were allowed more than one PK. This was the second for both men. The court is expected to make a decision as early as Monday or Tuesday.
Indonesian lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis stressed to media the legal team were requesting the death sentences be commuted to life in prison.
Chan and Sukumaran were sentenced to death for their part in a heroin smuggling attempt in 2005.
Both men were denied clemency by the Indonesian president Joko Widodo in recent weeks and there have been conflicting statements from Indonesian officials about when the execution order would be given. Authorities have said that the men would be executed together.
Ivar Schoe, a Norwegian director of a philosophy school in Bali, has worked with Sukumaran since 2011 after meeting him on a prison visit.
He told Guardian Australia of the change he’s seen in Sukumaran, from a “naive” man who thought only of money rather than the consequences for other people when he attempted to smuggle heroin, to one who is “full of empathy” and in a way “blooming in prison”.
Schoe said the pair bonded over setting up philosophy classes for other prisoners and they have become close friends.
“With Myuran it is difficult to think about his case because he is still alive and is so productive and so pro-social and doing things all the time in the prison,” said Schoe.
Schoe said he talks with Sukumaran most days, and they have talked about what may come.
“We talked about his feelings and his thoughts and what you think about when you know someone can grab you, isolate you for three days and shoot you. He told me it was important for him to talk about this.”
Schoe and his colleagues visit with other prisoners, whom he said are “devastated”.
Sukumaran initiated a number of programs for prisoners, including his art studio and philosophy classes, which Schoe described as “controversial” because they allowed men and women to socialise together.
“He is very dedicated to helping other prisoners,” said Schoe. “When I was there last time we were sitting in his art studio and people came all the time to get help from him. There was a new guy, he didn’t understand the rules or anything and was so scared, so people told him to go to see Myuran.”
Schoe is one of a number of people and groups advocating on behalf of Chan and Sukumaran. On Saturday, members of the C3 church in the Bali capital, Denpasar, took to the streets to tell people of the extent to which Chan and Myuran have been rehabilitated.
John and Made Stevens were among the group handing out flyers and stickers to passersby. John Stevens said some knew of Chan and Sukumaran. Others did not, and even those who had heard of the case did not know the extent of the rehabilitation of the two men, they said.
“For those who probably understood, there’s probably some agreement in the sense they know people are in jail and they know people are on death row, but they don’t know that people have been rehabilitated,” Stevens told Guardian Australia.
“Often people’s perceptions when someone has been in jail for a crime – if you’ve known the rehabilitation of these people it’s a bit different. How do you explain that to a country?”
Stevens said he and other members of the church visited Kerobokan frequently, and had watched Chan in particular, who had joined the church, change over time.
“They had no hope of ever getting out of jail ever, but I want to tell you they are doing a lot of good,” Stevens said.
