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Indonesia | Bali Nine prisoners to be sent home

The news comes after a request from Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

The five remaining Bali nine* prisoners currently serving life sentences in Indonesia for drug trafficking are set to return to Australia at the request of Anthony Albanese.

The Prime Minister made the plea during talks with new president Prabowo Subianto at the APEC conference in Peru, The Australian reported on Friday.

“The Indonesia President responded that they are currently ­reviewing and processing the ­matter, and it is expected to be ­carried out in December,” coordinating minister for legal affairs, human rights, immigration and corrections Yusril Ihza Mahendra told the publication.

The minister said a broad request from Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke involving the transfer of Australian nationals convicted of drug offences and serving their time in Indonesia was also made.

Matthew Norman, Martin Stephens, Si Yi Chen, Scott Rush and Michael Czugaj could be transferred home in December.

The nine Australians were convicted of attempting to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia in 2005.

Ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were sentenced to death and executed a decade later.

Renae Lawrence was released and deported to Australia in November 2018.

Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen died in hospital from stomach cancer earlier the same year.

* The Bali Nine were a group of nine Australians convicted for attempting to smuggle 8.3 kg (18 lb) of heroin out of Indonesia in April 2005. The heroin was valued at around A$4 million and was bound for Australia. Ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were sentenced to death and executed on 29 April 2015. Six other members, Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush and Martin Stephens, were sentenced to life imprisonment and another, Renae Lawrence, to a 20-year sentence but was released after the sentence was commuted in November 2018. (Wikipedia) 

— This story will be updated (DPN)

Source: 7news.com.au, Staff, November 22, 2024

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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted."

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