Russell Brand is the latest high-profile figure to plead for clemency in the case of Bali Nine pair Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who are facing the death penalty in Indonesia.
In an eight-minute video posted to YouTube on Monday, the British comedian turned social commentator has accused Indonesia of using the convicted drug smugglers as “human sacrifice” in order to conceal the country’s economic dependence on illegal drug trade.
Brand is a recovered heroin addict, and said he was affected by the plight of the men who he believes are being executed in order “to make a point ... successive Indonesian presidents demonstrate their power by increasing executions.”
“It’s a gesture, an empty gesture, a mask and a veil that conceals the corruption on Indonesia and the true nature of international drug smuggling ... that drug addiction and drug smuggling is an essential black economy – it’s part of our global culture.”
The video, featuring a shirtless Brand speaking from what appears to be his bedroom, attracted 35,000 views in less than 12 hours. It is the latest in his YouTube series The Trews, which sees the comedian speak directly to camera and provide often didactic commentary and news analysis.
It comes three days after Brand tweeted to his 9m followers a link to the Mercy Campaign, which has been working to save the lives of the two men through legal channels, awareness-raising concerts and a public petition.
He joins a list of public figures who have come out in public support for the men, including writer Germaine Greer, broadcaster Alan Jones, actors Claudia Karvan and David Wenham and former Wallabies captain George Gregan.
However, public opinion regarding clemency for the men remains divided. In the video the comedian responds to online backlash, speaking directly to one commenter who called for the men to “pay their consequences”.
“If you see society as entirely atomised, where none of us have any culpability, where none of us have any interconnection, where people are condemned on the basis of their actions, where there is no clemency, no forgiveness, no possibility of redemption, rehabilitation or change, then you’re right.
“But I don’t want to live in that world.”
Brand said killing the two men, who have clearly illustrated their reformation, would show humanity to be “more brutal, more immoral than any kind of drug smuggling culture. That’s a sort of peccadillo compared to the unnecessary execution of repentant humans.”
He also called the men a “symptom of a much bigger problem” and demanded that Indonesia, Australia, the UK and US examine its relationship to the drug trade, including addressing social drug dependency and police corruption.
He also asked Liverpool FC to boycott the team’s official airline sponsor, Garuda Indonesia.
Amnesty International is currently hosting an exhibition of Sukumaran’s artwork in their London office. Sukumaran began painting several years ago under the mentorship of Australian artist Ben Quilty, and has since ran art classes for fellow inmates.
Last week Chan and Sukumaran lost their bid to challenge their clemency rejections in the state administrative court, with the men’s lawyers now moving the case to Indonesia’s constitutional court. The men are currently being held on central Java’s Nusa Kambangan island, where they face possible execution by firing squad.
