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Bali Nine mother begs Jokowi to stop executions
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Final hours -- The families of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, two of nine Australians making up the so-called Bali Nine, visit their loved ones on Nusakambangan prison island in Cilacap, Central Java, before their executions last year. (thejakartapost.com/Agus Maryono)
T
he planned executions of drug convicts, reportedly planned for later this week, have triggered an emotional response from the mother of late Bali Nine member Myuran Sukumaran, who was executed on Nusakambangan prison island last year.
Myuran’s mother, Raji Sukumaran, sent an open letter to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Wednesday, pleading him to stop the executions.
"I desperately wanted to write to you as I have been hearing that you are ordering the death of more people. I don’t know these people or their crimes. I don’t know their family, friends or children. I do know my son who you brutally took from me last year as he was executed in the most horrible way," Raji Sukumaran wrote in the letter sent to Jokowi via the Indonesian Embassy in Canberra and shared with media outlets.
Sukumaran demanded that Jokowi grant mercy to the condemned, saying that they had family and relatives. "I am writing to you today to again ask for mercy, please do not kill these men and women. They are someone’s son, daughter, father, mother, sister, brother, friend," she wrote.
Sukumuran further tells Jokowi: "You are the only person who has the power to prevent another execution. I can’t believe you would want to see mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children and grandparents grieving for their loved ones [...].”
Myuran Sukumaran was executed in April last year, along with his fellow Bali Nine member Andrew Chan and other drug convicts. Sukumaran and Chan had been detained at Kerobokan Penitentiary for almost 10 years before they were executed last year. They were convicted of an attempt to smuggle over 8 kilograms of heroin from Bali to Australia in 2005. (ebf)
