Five who have been serving life sentences for drug smuggling in for the past 19 years returned home on Sunday after long negotiations between the two countries, the Australian government said.
The five were members of a group of nine people, dubbed the “Bali Nine,” who were convicted in 2005 of attempting to smuggle more than 8 kilograms (18 pounds) of heroin from the island of Bali to Australia. Their arrest
“The Australian Government can confirm that Australian citizens, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush, Martin Stephens, Si Yi Chen, and Michael Czugaj have returned to Australia,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in a statement.
“These Australians served more than 19 years in prison in Indonesia. It was time for them to come home,” Albanese said, adding that the return showed “the strong bilateral relationship and mutual respect between Indonesia and Australia.”
His statement did not say whether the men will need to continue serving their sentences in Australia under the terms of the transfer agreement with Indonesia, but only that “the men will have the opportunity to continue their personal rehabilitation and reintegration in Australia.”
Years of appeals
Two of the group’s members, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed by firing squad in 2015, while another, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, died from cancer in prison in 2018.
The only woman in the group, Renae Lawrence, was eventually released and returned to Australia in 2018.
Albanese last month appealed to Indonesia’s new President Prabowo Subianto to allow the repatriation of the five, who were serving life sentences without the possibility of parole.
But the prisoners had made unheard appeals for years before that, requesting clemency each time ahead of Indonesia’s Independence Day.
The lack of response reflects Indonesia’s hard-line approach to drug offenses, which includes the regular execution of foreigners.
The execution of Chan and Sukumaran triggered a .
tj/zc (Reuters, AFP)
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