With less than a day left to live, this is how the Bali Nine ringleaders will spend their final hours.
Warning: This post contains detailed descriptions of the expected execution process and may be distressing for some readers.
Australian death row prisoners Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are expected to face the firing squad in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Though the Indonesian Government is yet to officially announce the execution date, the date 29.4.2015 has been stencilled onto wooden crosses in preparation for the pair’s execution,
The two Australian men were given their required 72 hours’ notice on Saturday.
As Chan and Sukumaran live out their final hours in Besi prison on Nusakambangan Island, fear, empathy — and yes, an element of morbid curiosity — are today prompting the Australian public to ask more questions about the pair and the horrible fate that awaits them. Here’s what the Bali Nine duo’s last day on earth is likely to involve:
Painting.
On Saturday, after officially being told they would be executed in as few as 72 hours, the pair were asked their final wishes — and Chinthu Sukumaran said his brother’s last wish was to paint for as long as possible.
“He has found peace with what may happen,” he said.
Sukumaran is a talented artist, and his latest paintings have documented his extraordinary circumstances — with one graphic self-portrait featuring a gaping hole over his heart, where he will be shot dead, and simply titled “Time is Ticking”.
Other portraits from recent days are hauntingly named “Self portrait, 72 hours just started” and “A strange day”.
Visiting with family.
The families of the nine prisoners condemned to die this week were granted the right to visit every day until the executions are carried out — and Michael Chan said his brother’s last wish was to go to church with his family.
It is likely that Andrew Chan, who married his fiancee Febyanti Herewila in prison on Monday, will also spend these final hours with his new wife.
Yesterday, however, precious family time was hampered when a visit by the duo’s families was denied just 35 hours before their likely execution; News Limited journalist Cindy Wockner tweeted that the families lost two irreplaceable hours of time together after they were initially denied access to Nusukamban Island, where the executions will take place.
Officials told the group permission from prosecutors was now needed for visits, despite earlier advice that the condemned men would be allowed unlimited visits.
Separation from family.
At around 2pm local time, the men are expected to be separated from their devastated family, Fairfax Media reports.
Their last hours, before leaving for the firing squad, are spent in isolation cells.
However, each of the Australian men was allowed to choose a spiritual adviser who can be alone with them in their final hours before death, and will witness the execution; Sukumaran has asked long-time friend and supporter, senior paster Christie Buckingham, while Chan has chosen Salvation Army minister David Soper, according to Fairfax.
A journey to the top of a mountain… and being tied to a pole.
In the dark of the night, the Australian men are expected to be led from their cells through dense tropical forest.
Wearing white clothes that represent the afterlife, the condemned will be led up a 3km steep winding track to a place called Nirbaya, also known as Death Valley, Daily Mail reports.
Nine News reporter Jayne Azzopardi, who has visited the island on which the pair will be executed, told Mamamia she met a priest called Father Charlie Burrows, who has counselled many prisoners facing execution, and he described the execution process to her.
Based on her conversations with Father Burrows, Azzopardi said: “they’re tried to a pole—with rubber tubing so they can’t move,” Azzopardi said. “Then white cloth is tied over them – I think they can decide if it goes over their head or not.”
Prisoners are offered blindfolds to wear, the Daily Mail confirms.
A doctor will mark where their hearts are.
“Then a doctor comes around and marks where their heart is,” Azzopardi said, adding that he uses a little black badge to mark the exact spot for the purposes of accuracy on the part of those who will do the firing.
They are given the choice to sit, lie or stand.
Prisoners are given a choice to sit down, lie or stand, the Daily Mail reports. It seems strange to contemplate the idea of choice at the moment for an utterly freedom-less death. But the prisoners are afforded this right.
The prisoners are then given three minutes to “calm down,” Daily Mail reports.
Death may or may not be instantaneous.
The fatal shots are likely to be fired at the stroke of midnight on Tuesday night – 3am Eastern Standard Time.
“There’s a team of shooters; the number can vary, there can be as many as 15, its usually around a dozen,” Azzopardi said.
The Daily Mail reports the pair will face 12 marksmen, of whom only three will be holding loaded guns, and that when the order is given — ‘laksanakan, laksanakan’, meaning ‘execute, execute’ in Bahasa Indonesian — the marksmen will fire, aiming for the heart.
The execution is carried out at a distance of between five and 10 metres, the Daily Mail reports.
If doctors confirm there are still signs of life, the shooting can continue, Daily Mail reports.
Azzopardi confirmed to Mamamia that the deaths weren’t necessarily instantaneous.
“[Father] Charlie [Burrows] said the two that he witnessed, they didn’t die instantly. They took seven or eight minutes to die… He said to me: ‘I’m not much of a singer, but I started singing Amazing Grace so they would have something to focus on’.”
“He described that as torture, that waiting around, knowing you’re going to die.”
Our thoughts are with the loved ones of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran at this difficult time.
See some of Myuran Sukumaran’s paintings:
An Amnesty International campaign paying tribute to the Bali duo:
Read more:
Myuran Sukumaran has painted a moving tribute to the Indonesian President.
This is what the world could lose in 72 hours.
‘A heroin overdose killed by brother. But I stand for Mercy.’
Australian celebrities plead: “Save our boys, Mr Abbott.”
The self-portrait that says more than a thousand words about how it feels to face death.
Top Comments
Aside from my very strong disagreement with the death penalty in any form, I am also so horrified to read about the method of execution. I cannot understand why the UN has not stepped in to challenge this form of death penalty when it seems pretty clear that it is "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" (Art 5 Universal Declaration of Human Rights).
At least other methods of the death penalty are less torturous (eg lethal injection, where sedatives are given first). The idea that it could take them 7-8 minutes to die, where they could be repeatedly shot at is barbaric.
I will always argue against the death penalty in any form and for any reason, so no method is ever good, but this is particularly heinous. :(
I will never go or support Bali....this is disgusting