Two Australian drug smugglers set to be executed by firing squad in Indonesia have entered their final hours - with their families collapsing in tears as they said their goodbyes. Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran (inset) are expected to be executed at around midnight on the Indonesian island of Nusakambangan - 5pm UK time. The relatives were mobbed by journalists as they arrived at the prison (main and left, which shows Sukuraman's mother).
The shooting is set to go ahead despite Indonesia's Constitutional Court agreeing to hear a legal challenge brought by the duo and setting a hearing date of May 12. Chan and Sukumaran are part of the Bali Nine who were convicted in 2005 over a plot to smuggle around 18.2lbs of heroin from Indonesia to Australia. The pair, as well as other death row inmates, have remained defiant in their final hours inside the prison on Indonesia's 'death island', where coffins were seen arriving earlier this evening (bottom right). Chan married his fiancé of less than three months while inside prison (top right).
Two Australian drug smugglers set to be executed by firing squad in Indonesia have entered their final hours - with their families collapsing in tears as they said their goodbyes.
Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are expected to be executed at around midnight on the Indonesian island of Nusakambangan - 5pm GMT - and were visited by their emotional families in prison today.
The relatives were mobbed by journalists as they arrived at the prison, with the sister of Sukumaran collapsing and needing to be carried.
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Sukuraman's sister, Brintha, is supported as she is escorted through the crowd towards the port gates
Condemned Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran have entered their final hours before their expected execution
Distressed family and supporters battle through the crowds to reach the port gates
Sukuraman's mother Raji (centre) cries as she arrives at the port authority office at Cilacap for a last visit with her son
Family members and supporters make their way through the crowd as they prepare to visit the men for the last time
Reporters mobbed the families of the prisoners as they arrived
Brintha Sukumaran (centre), a sister of Myuran Sukumaran, screams as she arrives at Wijaya Pura port to visit her brother
Brintha Sukumaran had to be carried when she arrived at the prison
Michael Chan (centre, in green) brother of Andrew Chan, makes his way through the media to the port authority office before travelling to Nusakambangan Island
Michael Chan said his brother and Sukumaran have been denied their choice of minister in their final hours
Coffins were seen being brought into the prison ahead of the pair's execution, which is set for early on Wednesday morning
The shooting is set to go ahead despite Indonesia's Constitutional Court agreeing to hear a legal challenge brought by the duo and setting a hearing date of May 12.
Chan and Sukumaran are part of the Bali Nine who were convicted in 2005 over a plot to smuggle around 18.2lbs of heroin from Indonesia to Australia.
The pair, as well as other death row inmates, have remained defiant in their final hours inside the prison on Indonesia's 'death island', where coffins were seen arriving earlier this evening.
Chan married his fiancé of less than three months inside the prison today, as family paid what will be one of their last visits.
Their wedding was held just months after the drugs ringleader proposed to his girlfriend at Kerobokan Prison.
Meanwhile Sukumaran indicated through a close friend that he will not wear a blindfold when he faces the firing squad because he wants to look his killers in the eye.
Leonard Arpan, lawyer for the two men, said he had lodged an appeal against the death sentences, but Indonesia's attorney general Muhammad Prasetyo said it would not stop the executions taking place.
Condemned Australian Andrew Chan has married his fiancée Febyanti Herewila in prison on Indonesia's 'Death Island'
The execution of the Bali NIne is set for the early hours of Wednesday
Family and friends of the condemned men making their way through the crowds
Chan married his partner Febyanti Herewila (pictured) in prison as his execution by firing squad looms
Chinthu Sukumaran said they asked President Joko Widodo to show the same mercy he'd asked for his own citizens on death row overseas.
Mr Prasetyo said: 'This, I feel ... is proof that they intend to buy time only, by playing with our law.
'I think this is enough, I am saying this is enough — the legal process has been done.'
Families of both of the men visited them today and were told they will have to say their final goodbyes today.
Chan's mother was in tears as she boarded a ferry to the island with the pair's Australian lawyer Julian McMahon.
Sukumaran was denied the opportunity to hug his mother goodbye after guards refused to remove his handcuffs, according to the Daily Telegraph.
The date of the executions became official when a local funeral director was instructed to inscribe the names of those to be shot by firing squad and the date of their deaths.
Chan and Sukumaran both refused to sign their execution warrants during official proceedings on Saturday, saying they believed it would be unjust to kill them.
The latter's brother, Chinthu Sukumaran, said: 'He's found peace with what may happen but he and we all feel that this is a grave injustice and it did not have to be this way and it still doesn't have to be this way.'
He also called on Indonesia President Joko Widodo to give clemency to the men
'Please, please show mercy,' he said. 'There are nine people with families that love them.
'That's mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters.
'We ask the president to please use his powers to intervene and save their lives.'
The Australian men are expected to be led from their isolated cells in Batu prison and through tropical forest.
BALI NINE DUO: THEIR FINAL HOURS RE-ENACTED ON TELEVISION
The chilling reenactment of how executions are carried out in Indonesia which was broadcast to millions of viewers is set to become a brutal reality for Andrew Chan and Myruan Sukumaran.
Time has run out for the Bali Nine ringleaders who will face 12 marksmen, with only three of them holding loaded guns, at the stroke of midnight on Tuesday night - 3am Eastern Standard Time - in the depths of the jungle on Nusakambangan Island in Java.
The Australian men are expected to be led from their isolated cells in Batu prison through the wildly dense tropical forest up a 3km steep winding track to a place called Nirbaya - or more appropriately known as Death Valley.
Myuran Sukumaran (left) and Andrew Chan (right) will be given white clothing to wear and a choice whether to be blindfolded as they face the firing squad at the stoke of midnight on Tuesday
A local television station broadcast a chilling re-enactment of how executions are carried out in Indonesi
A disturbing recreation of the execution was aired on Indonesian TV the day before five foreign drug traffickers were killed in January
The condemned pair will be given white clothing to wear, which symbolises the afterlife, before beginning their fatal trek and are given the option to be blindfolded with a piece of fabric before facing the firing squad who will be lined up anywhere from five to 10 metres in front of them.
The confronting decisions continue for the death row inmates with the opportunity to choose whether to stand, sit or kneel before a cross is placed over their hearts acting as a target for the 12 riflemen - of which nine will have blanks and only three will have live rounds.
If necessary their hands or feet will be tied to a 3m high pole or worse still - a wooden execution chair.
Millions of viewers watched the chilling reenactment of the execution played out on national TV
The Australian men will be given a maximum of three minutes to calm down before being shot in the heart
Three shooters will have live rounds while nine other rifelemen will have blanks
The offender is then given a final chance to calm down for a maximum of three minutes before the riflemen are ordered to shoot them in the heart.
It is then that the executing commander brandishes his sword as a sign for the 12 shooters to begin to fire their rifles.
If the doctor confirms once the fires have been shot that the prisoner is still breathing - the executing commander orders for a pistol be put to the temple just above the ear for a final shot.
However, the shooting can continue on the condemned, if the doctor declares that there is still signs of life.
Some of the last words the men will hear are 'laksanakan, laksanakan' - meaning 'execute, execute' in Indonesian.
The television report also listed 27 very precise points about how the execution will be carried out
The Australian men are expected to be led from their isolated cells in Batu prison through the wildly dense tropical forest up a steep winding track before meeting their demise
Michael Chan (left), the brother of Andrew Chan, and Chinthu Sukumaran (right), the brother of Myuran Sukumaran, have pleaded once again for their clemency
Sukumaran's final paintings: A heart dripping with blood is carried by one of the Bali Nine duo's lawyers
A man carries a painting by Myuran Sukumaran, which has been signed by all nine death row inmates. The artist signature reads 'satu hati, satu rasa di dalam cinta' (one heart, one feeling in love)
The painting is a self-portrait of Sukumaran with a bullet hole through his heart
Julian McMahon, the lawyer for Bali Nine pair Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, looked downcast as he carried the paintings back from Death Island
Helen Chan, the mother of Andrew Chan (left) and McMahon walk as they prepare to head to Nusakambangan Island prison
Coffins in an ambulance on the way to 'Death Island', Nusakambangan
An ambulance carrying coffins arrives at the port in Cilacap
An ambulance carrying coffins enters the port authority office
The date of the executions - April 29 - became official when a local funeral director in Cilacap was instructed to inscribe the names of those to be shot by firing squad and the date of their deaths
The condemned pair will be given white clothing to wear, which symbolises the afterlife, before beginning their fatal trek.
They will be given the option to be blindfolded with a piece of fabric before facing the firing squad, who will be lined up anywhere from five to 10 metres in front of them.
The death row inmates will be allowed to stand, sit or kneel before a cross is placed over their hearts, acting as a target for the 12 riflemen - of which nine will have blanks and only three will have live rounds.
TOUGH-TALKING CELEBRITIES CALL ON AUSTRALIAN PM TO 'SHOW SOME BALLS' AND SAVE BALI NINE DUO... BUT ARE SLAMMED AS NAIVE
Australian actors including Bryan Brown, Geoffrey Rush, Guy Pearce and Joel Edgerton have called on Prime Minister Tony Abbott to ‘show some balls’ and save Bali Nine pair Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan from execution.
In a video named #saveourboys, entertainment stars and members of the public plead with the PM to bring the two men - who are expected to die at midnight tonight, Indonesian time, around 3am in Australia – home to their families.
In the 5.29 minute clip, created in just three hours on Monday, veteran actor Bryan Brown says: 'Mr Abbott, please do your best to get these boys home and off execution row.'
Geoffrey Rush says: 'I'm an Australian, and I stand for mercy.' The Project's Peter Helliar also speaks
In the video, Star Wars actor Joel Edgerton says: ‘I stand for mercy'
‘I stand for Mercy,’ Guy Pearce states solemnly in the 5.29 minute clip posted online on Tuesday
While Love My Way star Brendan Cowell urged, rather less diplomatically: ‘Tony if you had any courage and compassion, you’d get over to Indonesia and bring those two home and show some balls.’
The video has not been received well by everyone, with Today Show host Karl Stefanovic saying it had 'missed the mark' and social media users slamming it as a 'hate campaign' against Mr Abbott.
Stefanovic and co-host Lisa Wilkinson aired the clip on their show, apparently before having watched it.
Joel Edgerton posted on Twitter: 'Please. @jokowi_do2 Spare these boys and forgive mistakes'
Peter Gibson commented that 'nothing can be done' to save the men
Furious Fong wrote: ‘@theanthonyhayes what do you want the PM to do? Threaten to cut off aid?'
'There's almost an aggressive connotation there that I think is completely and utterly wrong, that I think has missed the mark on every single level,' Stefanovic said.
'I think there's clearly an agenda there of some kind and I just don't think it's worth acknowledging at this point.'
The Mercy campaign, which has been advocating on behalf of Chan and Sukumaran's families and friends, also distanced itself from the celebrity appeal.
Speaking on Tuesday morning on 2UE radio, Cowell tried to clarify his comment: 'I’m just saying it’s desperate measures. We should be throwing every single thing at this… I think it’s pretty obvious that everything hasn’t been done.
'As I said, mate, I haven’t studied politics. I don’t know enough. I don’t know what the processes are.'
In the video, Star Wars actor Joel Edgerton says: ‘I stand for mercy.’
He also posted on Twitter: ‘Please. @jokowi_do2 Spare these boys and forgive mistakes. #IStandForMercy #Bali9’
‘I stand for Mercy,’ Guy Pearce states solemnly, while Geoffrey Rush adds: ‘I’m an Australian, and I stand for mercy.’
Amnesty international and Sydney Bali Nine activists hold a vigil in front of a flower wall that says '#keephopealive' in a last ditch effort to sway the Indonesian Government to halt proceedings to execute Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran
The mortician, B. Suhendroputro, stands by the crosses for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran
Mr Suhendroputro writes the name of the death row convict, Andrew Chan, on one of the wooden crosses
Mr Suhendroputro carefully lines the crosses up against the wall, which will reportedly will be placed upon the convicts coffins, for collection by families after the Indonesian authorities hand over the corpses
If necessary their hands or feet will be tied to a three-metre high pole or a wooden execution chair.
Michael Chan said his brother's only wish would be to go to church with his family in his last days.
'The two boys are still holding up pretty well considering they feel this is injust (unjust) to what has happened over the last ten years with their whole case,' he said.
'Somewhere in the legal system for Indonesia there's got to be mercy and the president needs to show that now.
'He's the only one that can stop it and it's not too late to do so.'
The men's coffins are laid out in a holding area in Cilacap, before being transported to Death Island
A worker arranges coffins that will be delivered to the prison island of Nusakambangan onto a truck ahead of the imminent executions of drug convicts on death row
Australia wants corruption allegations against Indonesian judges investigated before their death sentences against two Australian drug traffickers, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, are carried out
Via - DailyMail
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