Sydney (Australia): Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Wednesday said he was “revolted” by the imminent execution of two Australians by Indonesia, as armoured cars apparently carrying the two men left a Bali jail.
The Video footage shows cars leaving Bali jail
Abbott has repeatedly called for Jakarta to halt the killings of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the ringleaders of the so-called “Bali Nine” drug trafficking gang.
But his appeals have fallen on deaf ears, with television pictures showing at least two armoured cars, surrounded by riot police, leaving Bali’s Kerobokan jail at around 5:20 am Indonesian time on Wednesday (2120 GMT Tuesday).
Australian media said Chan and Sukumaran were believed to be inside.
The head of the Bali prosecutor’s office, Momock Bambang Samiarso, said on Tuesday that once the pair left the prison they would be flown on a military aircraft to the island, where they will face the firing squad.
Speaking just head of their apparent removal from Kerobokan, Abbott said millions of Australians were sickened by the developments.
“We abhor drug crime but we abhor the death penalty as well, which we think is beneath a country such as Indonesia,” he told ABC radio.
“We frankly are revolted by the prospect of these executions.”
Officials are yet to announce a date for the executions, but the transfer appears to indicate it is imminent.
The men, in their early 30s, were convicted of trying to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia in 2005 and sentenced to death the following year.
They recently lost their appeals for presidential clemency, typically a death row convict’s last chance to avoid execution.
They are among a group of 10 drug convicts expected to face a firing squad in the upcoming batch of executions.
Officials have not confirmed the nationalities of the others, although convicts from France, Brazil and the Philippines are among those who recently lost their appeals for presidential clemency.
(Ventuno)