Andrew Chan's Death Sentence Affirmed

(6/24/2011)

25-year-old Australian Scott Rush, saw his death sentence commuted to life-in-prison in May 2011, [See: The Gift of Life], leaving only two of the remaining members of “Bali Nine” – Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, still sitting on death row awaiting the outcome of their petition for commutation.

The total of those from the "Bai Nine" still in doubt of their fate reduced to one when, in a decision dated May 11th but made public only five weeks later, the Indonesian Supreme Court upheld 27-year-old Andrew Chan’s death sentence moving the young Australian dramatically closer to an execution date before a firing squad. Commenting on the decision, Chan’s lawyer, Todung Mulya Lubis, expressed his bitter disappointments, saying Chan did not deserve the death penalty for his part in smuggling eight kilograms of heroin from Bali to Australia in 2005.

Another Australian member of the "Bali Nine," Myuran Sukamaran, is still awaiting the Supreme Court's decision in his appeal against the imposition of the death sentence.

The only remaining hope that Chan’s life will be spared rests with a the President who can grant clemency or a commutation of sentence. However, past pronouncements by President Yudhoyono have warned that he has little inclination to show clemency to any convicted narcotics traffickers.

Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has reacted to the Supreme Court's decision, vowing she will spare no effort, including making a direct entreaty to the Indonesian President, to see Chan is not executed.