Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Sunday he would use upcoming talks in Indonesia to raise the issue of clemency for three Australian drug traffickers held there on death row.
Smith, who will meet with his Indonesian counterpart Hassan Wirajuda in Jakarta on Monday, said he would discuss the plight of the three men, who face death by firing squad.
The trio are part of the so-called "Bali 9", a group of Australians convicted over a foiled plot to smuggle 8.3 kilograms (18 pounds) of heroin from the Indonesian resort island into Australia in 2005.
"I'll be just making the point in our formal bilateral conversation in Jakarta tomorrow that we have 3 of the Bali 9 still subject to the death penalty," Smith said.
"I'll make inquiries about the progress of their cases through the Indonesian legal and judicial system and, again, make the point that when those processes have completed, that if any of those three still remain the subject of the death penalty, we'll be making a plea for clemency in accordance with our normal processes."
Smith said that while the Australian government was opposed to the death penalty, he would not raise the issue of clemency for those responsible for the deaths of 88 Australians in nightclub bombings in Bali in 2002.
"The prime minister and I have both made clear that we don't propose to make representations on behalf of terrorists who have been subject to the death penalty," he told Australia's Channel 9.
"So I won't be making any individual representations so far as the Bali bombers are concerned."
Source: Agence France Presse
Comments
Post a Comment
Please note that offensive and pro-death penalty comments will not be published.