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Bali nine ringleaders Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan have been told they will be executed after midnight tonight.
The 72-hour execution notification period expires at midnight tonight, meaning the pair — along with seven other death row criminals — could face the firing squad any time from midnight, ABC News reports.
As their execution looms, we’ve rounded up the latest updates on the story, which is set to dominate headlines and the Australian political agenda all day.
Vigils are being held around the country in honour of the Australians on death row.
Crowds of people have gathered across the country, lighting candles and hoping for a miracle to stop the pending executions of Sukumaran and Chan.
At Sydney’s Martin Place, more than 200 people are calling for the Indonesian government to can the executions.
International human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson and Sukumaran’s cousin, Andrew Rajeevan, spoke in Sydney.
Julie Bishop says there will be consequences if the executions go ahead.
Foreign minister Julie Bishop has told ABC’s 7.30 she assumes that, despite the outstanding legal challenge, she assumes the Indonesian government intends to go ahead with the executions.
Bishop said she was “deeply disturbed at some of the aspects of how this has been handled”.
She said she was “very concerned” for the men’s families.
“I think the ghastly process the family has been put through today just underscores how chaotic this has been,” she said.
“They do deserve respect and they do deserve to have dignity shown to them at this time of unspeakable grief. But that doesn’t seem to have been extended to them at this time.”
Bishop said Prime Minister Tony Abbott had been in contact with President Joko Widodo, but official requests had gone unanswered.
Families of condemned pair make a last-minute plea for mercy.
The families of condemned Bali Nine duo Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan are continuing to beg the Indonesian President for mercy after finishing their final goodbyes.
Chan’s brother Michael said: “I call on the President to exercise that, he still has a chance to stop this cruel, undignified way of torture.”
“Anyone with a heart would forgive these guys for what they’ve done and show them mercy,” he said.
Sukumaran’s brother Chinthu echoed calls for a last-minute change of heart from President Joko Widodo.
“You are ordering the murder of nine people and they have families who love them and they don’t need to die,” he said.
“Myuran is at peace with what may happen, he knows he has to be strong and take care of the other eight people with him.”
Sukumaran’s mother, Raji, also made a heart-breaking plea:
I won’t see my son again and they are going to take him tonight and shoot him and he is healthy and he is beautiful and he has a lot of compassion for other people. I am asking the government not to kill him, please President, please don’t kill him today. Please don’t. Call off the execution. Please don’t kill my son. Please don’t.
Andrew Chan’s new wife Feby reportedly looked stricken as she was helped inside a hotel in Cilacap after returning from Nusakambangan Island.
Earlier reports that the condemned men’s families had been granted more time for a final goodbye were incorrect.
Prisoners will now be denied spiritual advisors.
Indonesian authorities will not allow the Australian men to have their chosen pastors with them at the time of execution.
Chan and Sukumaran had previously been told they could have their chosen two Christian ministers present at the execution to comfort them — but now, the Indonesian attorney-general’s office says it will appoint its own religious counsellors to attend the execution.
In an SMS, Andrew Chan’s brother Michael told Fairfax Media: “Last bit of dignity denied.”
Sukumaran’s final painting revealed.
Myuran Sukumaran has unveiled his final painting.
It mirrors the colours and shapes of the Indonesian flag, but contains distinctly blood-like elements.
News Limited journalist Cindy Wockner tweeted the painting has been signed by all nine set to be executed tonight.
Sukumaran to look executioners “in the eye”.
A friend of Myuran Sukumaran has revealed the Bali Nine death row prisoner will refuse to wear a blindfold so he can look his executioners in the eye.
Artist Ben Quilty told on 2GB Radio on Sunday night: “Myuran always said to me that he would never take this lying down; that he would stare them down, that no one would cover his eyes, that he would face it with dignity.”
He added: “He will face it with strength and dignity… I know that about him, because he won’t want his mother to think he’s a weeping mess at the end.”
Related content: This is what the Bali Nine pair’s last day on earth will look like.
Quilty also took to social media yesterday to post a moving reflection on Sukumaran’s fate.
“Myu has inadvertently brought together so many compassionate and forgiving people, around the world, and together we will all ensure that compassion continues to flourish,” the post said.
Families of Chan and Sukumaran face overwhelming media mob.
Meanwhile, the families of Chan and Sukumaran have arrived for what is expected to be their final visit to the condemned men– and they faced chaotic scenes as they arrived at the Indonesian port of Cilacap.
Media mobbed the families as they embarked at Cilacap for the first trip to the Nusakambangan prison island this morning, with Sukumaran’s sister even having to be carried through the crowd of reporters.
Friends of the Australian men have taken to social media to criticise the move as “heartless” and “so cruel”.
Post continues after this ABC video:
Critics hit back at celebrity “save our boys” video.
Today show host Karl Stefanovic has criticised a viral video in which Australian celebrities plead with the Prime Minister to “save our boys”.
In the video, a group of Australian celebrities — including Geoffrey Rush, Guy Pearce and Brendan Cowell — plead with Prime Minister to fly to Indonesia and make a last-ditch bid to save Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran from their imminent execution.
“Tony, if you had any courage and compassion you’d go to Indonesia and bring these boys home,” Cowell says in the video. “Show some balls.”
But Stefanovic criticised the implication that Mr Abbott had not done enough to save Chan and Sukumaran.
“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,” he 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.”
Watch it here: “Save our boys,” Australian celebrities plead.
“Keep hope alive” vigil in Sydney.
More than 200 people gathered at Sydney’s Blues Point Reserve last night to call for mercy for Australians on death row in Indonesia.
In a stunning visual display, critics of the death penalty spelt out “keep hope alive” using flowers and candles– with the Sydney Harbour Bridge as the backdrop.
In less than 24 hours, over 10,000 people purchased flowers for the display.
The Mercy Campaign is organising a public vigil in Sydney’s Martin Place from 6pm tonight.
See Amnesty International’s photos of the tribute below:
Read more:
Myuran Sukumaran has painted a moving tribute to the Indonesian President.
The TV moment that left us all in disbelief last night.
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.