Bali Nine lawyer welcomes online campaign

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran

The lawyer for the two Bali Nine members on death row agrees diplomacy is the best way forward for his clients but is not opposed to an online campaign supporting their bid for clemency from the Indonesian president.

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the so-called ringleaders of the 2005 plot to smuggle more than 8kg of heroin from Bali to Australia, are likely to apply for clemency from President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, after the Indonesian Supreme Court rejected their final appeals against the death sentence.

Their Australian-based lawyer, Julian McMahon, said on Wednesday that he welcomed a campaign launched last week which will use social media to raise awareness about their case and support for a petition which will ask that Dr Yudhoyono spares their lives.

The comments come after the respected Indonesian human rights group, Kontras, on Tuesday called for a low-key diplomatic approach to the case, saying the online campaign could actually do more harm than good.

But Mr McMahon sees the online effort as a positive step.

"Kontras have said that diplomacy, not an online campaign, is the best way forward," he said.

"I agree with Kontras, but I also welcomed the new website. As a lawyer for Chan and Sukumaran, it is obvious to me that diplomacy is what matters most now, it is central to how this case ends. I know both countries share that view, and I am glad."

"But the death penalty cannot be confined to diplomacy."

Kontras, otherwise known as the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, has warned there was a risk that a public campaign could have a negative effect on the attitudes of people in Indonesia as well as that of the president.

"People will be saying that this issue was raised and funded by foreign people and Indonesia is being controlled by a foreign power," spokesman for the Jakarta-based group said on Tuesday.

"The best way for now would be to adopt a diplomatic approach and focus efforts on trying to reduce the sentence."

However, Mr McMahon said mercycampaign.org website, which is organised by a group of Melbourne lawyers, was by no means disrespectful to Indonesia or its people.

"It's inevitable that there will be discussion, which of course increases pressure on me, on my clients on death row, on all the decision-makers, politicians and diplomats involved. So I want to see that debate done in the best way possible," he said.

"I have no doubt that people who read it will find the website respectful, and a sensible way of progressing the inevitable public debate, whatever their views about the death penalty.

Dr Yudhoyono has previously indicated he is reluctant to show mercy to people facing death sentences, and in particular those convicted of drug trafficking offences.

But he has also recently criticised Saudi Arabia for executing an Indonesian maid convicted of murder and has also stepped in to save another maid who was facing death after being convicted by a Riyadh court of killing a relative of her Yemeni employer.

Source: AAP, July 20, 2011

The online petition can be signed here.

23 hours ago

Sukumaran was the last of the Bali Nine with an appeal pending, and like fellow member Andrew Chan, must now rely on clemency from Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono if he is to avoid a firing squad. ...

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