Shifting values give Bali Nine duo hope: lawyer

Myuran Sukumaran (left)
Andrew Chan (right)

A lawyer for two of the Bali Nine Australians facing the death penalty says a shift in attitudes in Indonesia may offer a glimmer of hope for the men.

Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan have exhausted all their legal avenues and have about 12 months to plead for presidential clemency.

If Indonesia's president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono does not grant clemency, the pair will face the firing squad.

Lawyer Julian McMahon says the death penalty debate has remained dormant in Indonesia for many years, but now it is on the national agenda.

He says it could be an opportunity for Indonesia to emerge as a leader in the region and get rid of the law.

"Indonesia is a country where there's been tremendous reform since 1998," he said.

"It's a country where there's vital debate, the press is free and vigorous, there's room for people to argue the point on any important issue.

"In that environment there's a great deal of hope, because the time has passed for the death penalty law."

Chan and Sukumaran are in jail in Bali for their roles in a plan to smuggle more than eight kilograms of heroin from Bali to Australia in 2005.

Melbourne University Asian Law Centre director, Tim Lindsey, says there is a growing trend towards human rights for offenders in Indonesia - except for drug smugglers.

He says this makes the Bali nine case more difficult, but not impossible.

He says the new debate in Indonesia should initiate ASEAN countries to commit to a regional agreement not to execute people from abolitionist countries.

"We need to find some sort of regional protocol, I don't think it will be easy to do," he said.

"Hopefully countries that execute will see their citizens facing the death penalty in protocol countries, while citizens of abolitionist countries will escape it and hopefully that will put pressure on death penalty countries to do something about that."

Source: ABC News, July 30, 2011

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