Bali Nine: Myuran Sukumaran makes personal appeal to president Joko Widodo with portrait signed 'people can change'

Portrait of Indonesian president Joko Widodo by Myuran Sukumaran

Australian death-row prisoner Myuran Sukumaran has made a personal appeal for mercy to Joko Widodo, painting a portrait of the Indonesian president and signing it with the words "people can change".

Sukumaran led an art studio for his fellow prisoners during his time in Kerobokan prison, where he was mentored since 2012 by celebrated war artist Ben Quilty.

Sukumaran was recently awarded an associate degree in fine arts by Curtin University.

The portrait of of Mr Widodo is Sukumaran's most recent work.

He painted the oil on canvas artwork in Kerobokan prison in late January, in his final weeks there before being transferred to Nusakambangan island.

Sukumaran and fellow Bali Nine ringleader Andrew Chan have spent a week on "execution island", where they are awaiting a court appeal against their expected executions for heroin smuggling.

Australia's consul-general to Bali, Majell Hind, today visited the prisoners to check on their welfare.

It was her third trip to the island since Chan and Sukumaran were transferred there from Bali last Tuesday.

Both prisoners are said to be doing well.

Sukumaran and Chan's families visited them for the first time on the island yesterday and are due to do so again tomorrow.

Chan and Sukumaran are among 10 death-row prisoners awaiting news of the timing of their executions.

Several of them have ongoing legal appeals before Indonesia's courts and although the attorney-general says everything is almost ready for the executions to proceed, that will not happen until many of the legal processes are settled.

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Source: ABC.net.au, March 10, 2015

Bali Nine: Andrew Chan Proposed To Girlfriend Ahead Of Indonesia Execution

Andrew Chan and Febyanti Herewila

Andrew Chan, one of the two Australian men who were sentenced to death in Indonesia for leading the Bali Nine drug-trafficking ring, proposed to his girlfriend after learning that his request for clemency was rejected, according to Australian news reports Tuesday (local time).

Chan, 31, asked for the hand of Febyanti Herewila, also known as Feby, last month and she accepted immediately, according to News Corp Australia. The proposal's announcement followed a delay in the impending executions of Chan and fellow Bali Nine convict Myuran Sukumaran, though their cases might be resolved as early as this week. Both are expected to face a firing squad.

“Andrew is one of the strongest, kindest people I have ever met,” Feby told News Corp. “I have never seen him as just a prisoner or someone who is on death row. I love him for who he is. And I see what he does for other people and that makes me love him more. If you ask me why do I love him, it’s because he also has weaknesses as well but he also has a lot of good things about him. I accept him the way he is. I am also very proud of him.”

Chan proposed in the presence of his parents, Ken and Helen, who were in Bali along with his three siblings, their spouses and 6-month-old nephew Kai.

Source: International Business Times, March 10, 2015

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Tennessee executes Harold Wayne Nichols

Thirty-seven years after confessing to a series of rapes and the murder of Karen Pulley, Nichols expressed remorse in final words Strapped to a gurney in the execution chamber at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution Thursday morning, Harold Wayne Nichols made a final statement. “To the people I’ve harmed, I’m sorry,” he said, according to prison officials and media witnesses. “To my family, know that I love you. I know where I’m going to. I’m ready to go home.”

USA | Should Medical Research Regulations and Informed Consent Principles Apply to States’ Use of Experimental Execution Methods?

New drugs and medical treatments undergo rigorous testing to ensure they are safe and effective for public use. Under federal and state regulations, this testing typically involves clinical trials with human subjects, who face significant health and safety risks as the first people exposed to experimental treatments. That is why the law requires them to be fully informed of the potential effects and give their voluntary consent to participate in trials. Yet these regulations have not been followed when states seek to use novel and untested execution methods — subjecting prisoners to potentially torturous and unconstitutionally painful deaths. Some experts and advocates argue that states must be bound by the ethical and human rights principles of biomedical research before using these methods on prisoners.

Georgia parole board suspends scheduled execution of Cobb County death row prisoner

The execution of a Georgia man scheduled for Wednesday has been suspended as the State Board of Pardons and Paroles considers a clemency application. Stacey Humphreys, 52, would have been the state's first execution in 2025. As of December 16, 2025, Georgia has carried out zero executions in 2025. The state last executed an inmate in January 2020, followed by a pause due to COVID-19. Executions resumed in 2024, but none have occurred this year until now. Humphreys had been sentenced to death for the 2003 killings of 33-year-old Cyndi Williams and 21-year-old Lori Brown, who were fatally shot at the real estate office where they worked.

Oklahoma board recommends clemency for inmate set to be executed next week

A voting board in Oklahoma decided Wednesday to recommend clemency for Tremane Wood, a death row inmate who is scheduled to receive a lethal injection next week at the state penitentiary in McAlester. Wood, 46, faces execution for his conviction in the 2001 murder of Ronnie Wipf, a migrant farmworker, at an Oklahoma City hotel on New Year's Eve, court records show. The recommendation was decided in a 3-2 vote by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board, consisting of five members appointed by either the governor or the state's top judicial official, according to CBS News affiliate KWTV. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Sitt will consider the recommendation as he weighs whether to grant or deny Wood's clemency request, which would mean sparing him from execution and reducing his sentence to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

China | Former Chinese senior banker Bai Tianhui executed for taking US$155 million in bribes

Bai is the second senior figure from Huarong to be put to death for corruption following the execution of Lai Xiaomin in 2021 China has executed a former senior banker who was found guilty of taking more than 1.1 billion yuan (US$155 million) in bribes. Bai Tianhui, the former general manager of the asset management firm China Huarong International Holdings, was executed on Tuesday after the Supreme People’s Court approved the sentence, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Iran | Child Bride Saved from the Gallows After Blood Money Raised Through Donations, Charities

Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO); December 9, 2025: Goli Kouhkan, a 25-year-old undocumented Baluch child bride who was scheduled to be executed within weeks, has been saved from the gallows after the diya (blood money) was raised in time. According to the judiciary’s Mizan News Agency , the plaintiffs in the case of Goli Kouhkan, have agreed to forgo their right to execution as retribution. In a video, the victim’s parents are seen signing the relevant documents. Goli’s lawyer, Parand Gharahdaghi, confirmed in a social media post that the original 10 billion (approx. 100,000 euros) toman diya was reduced to 8 billion tomans (approx. 80,000 euros) and had been raised through donations and charities.

Afghanistan's Taliban rulers carry out public execution in sports stadium

The man had been convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including children, and was executed by one of their relatives, according to police. Afghanistan's Taliban authorities carried out the public execution of a man on Tuesday convicted of killing 13 members of a family, including several children, earlier this year. Tens of thousands of people attended the execution at a sports stadium in the eastern city of Khost, which the Supreme Court said was the eleventh since the Taliban seized power in 2021 in the wake of the chaotic withdrawal of US and NATO forces.

Burkina Faso to bring back death penalty

Burkina Faso's military rulers will bring back the death penalty, which was abolished in 2018, the country's Council of Ministers announced on Thursday. "This draft penal code reinstates the death penalty for a number of offences, including high treason, acts of terrorism, acts of espionage, among others," stated the information service of the Burkinabe government. Burkina Faso last carried out an execution in 1988.

Who Gets Hanged in Singapore?

Singapore’s death penalty has been in the news again. Enshrined in law in 1975, a decade after the island split from Malaysia and became an independent state, the penalty can see people sentenced to hang for drug trafficking, murder or firearms offenses, among other crimes. Executions have often involved trafficking under the Misuse of Drugs Act, with offenses measured in grams. Those executed have included people from low-income backgrounds and foreign nationals who are sometimes not fluent in English, according to human rights advocates such as Amnesty International and the International Drug Policy Consortium.

Afghanistan | Two Sons Of Executed Man Also Face Death Penalty, Says Taliban

The Taliban governor’s spokesperson in Khost said on Tuesday that two sons of a man executed earlier that day have also been sentenced to death. Their executions, he said, have been postponed because the heir of the victims is not currently in Afghanistan. Mostaghfer Gurbaz, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Khost, also released details of the charges against the man executed on Tuesday, identified as Mangal. He said Mangal was accused of killing members of a family.

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