CONVICTED drug traffickers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran could face an Indonesian firing squad within hours after, it seems, all legal avenues to keep them alive have now been exhausted.
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The Indonesian Government delivered one last slap in the face to Australia when it began final preparations for the pair’s death on Saturday, Anzac Day, but, from day one, they have shown little regard for our nation’s feelings in this matter.
At the same time as they were campaigning to save their own citizens from being put to death overseas, the Indonesians have refused to listen to the pleas of a nation that proved their greatest friend following the Boxing Day tsunami.
And so now we wait for confirmation that these men have been gunned down in a barbaric, perverted execution of Indonesian justice.
That said, Chan and Sukumaran are not martyrs and should not be lionised in death.
They orchestrated an attempt to bring in lethal drugs to our country, drugs that may have killed many more people than the pair now facing the death penalty.
They were caught and have already paid a high price for their crimes, which is as it should be.
But they should not die.
In 2015, state-sanctioned murder should abhor us all. No good can come from the death penalty, only further sorrow and shame.
It diminishes those nations that still practise the death penalty and, crucially, has not been found to be an effective deterrent to crime.
It is not too late for Indonesia to show clemency in the cases of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran but nothing in this case so far suggests that’s going to happen.
That’s a tragedy for them, a tragedy for their families and friends, and a tragedy for human decency.
