According to reporting from Tempo, The Indonesian government has completed the transfer of the remaining five Australian death row inmates, known as the Bali Nine, back home.
The Coordinating Ministry for Law, Human Rights, Immigration, and Corrections (Kemenko Kumham Imipas) confirmed the completion of the process. Deputy Coordinator for Immigration and Corrections of the Kemenko Kumham Imipas, I Nyoman Gede Surya Mataram said the transfer of the prisoners took place on Sunday (15/12/24.)
“The five remaining prisoners in the Bali Nine case were transferred from Bali on Sunday morning and have landed in Darwin, Australia,” said I Nyoman Gede in a written statement on the same day.
Nyoman said the five prisoners were Scott Anthony Rush, Mathew James Norman, Si Yi Chen, Michael William Czugaj, and Martin Eric Stephens, reports Tempo adding that “The handover was carried out at VIP II Gedung Swarawati I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport, Bali.”
The handover of the prisoners was carried out by a number of officials from the Indonesian Directorate General of Corrections to the head of the Class IIA Kerobokan Bali Penitentiary. Meanwhile, the Australian government was represented by Minister-Counselor Home Affairs Lauren Richardson and several representatives from the Australian Embassy in Jakarta.
Nyoman said that the group of five Australian citizen prisoners took off from I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport at exactly 10.35 WITA for Darwin, Australia. They were accompanied by three people from the Australian Embassy.
Nyoman said that the signing of the Practical Arrangement regarding the transfer between Indonesia and Australia had been carried out virtually on Thursday (12/12/24.) “Indonesia was represented by Coordinating Minister for Law and Human Rights, Imipas Yusril Ihza Mahendra, while from Australia it was Minister of Home Affairs Tony Burke,” said Nyoman.
Bali Nine is the nickname for nine Australian prisoners who were arrested in Bali for being involved in a drug syndicate case in 2005. They were proven to have smuggled 8.2 kilograms of heroin, says Tempo.
The nine prisoners were Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran, Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Renae Lawrance, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush, and Martin Stephens. Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed in 2015, Renae Lawrance was released in 2018, while Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen died in 2018 while serving his life sentence.
Source: Tempo
