The last five members of the so-called Bali Nine, a group of Australians who were convicted of smuggling heroin nearly two decades ago, have been released from prison in Indonesia and are back in Australia, according to the authorities in both countries.
The men’s repatriation ends a long saga that captivated the Australian public, involving young people who in 2005 tried to board a flight in Bali, the Indonesian island that is a popular tourist destination, with heroin strapped to their bodies. The case was a diplomatic sore spot between the nations for years.
The five men, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush, Martin Stephens, Si Yi Chen and Michael Czugaj, arrived in Australia on Sunday afternoon, officials said. Of their four co-defendants, two, who were considered ringleaders, were executed by firing squad in 2015. Another died in prison, of cancer, in 2018, and one was released due to good behavior in 2018.
Australia‘s prime minister, Anthony Albanese, called the five men’s return an “act of compassion” on the part of Indonesia’s president, Prabowo Subianto. Mr. Prabowo, a feared former general who was once barred from entering the United States because of his human rights record, was elected president this year and has been trying to recast himself as a diplomatically savvy statesman.
Yusril Ihza Mahendra, an Indonesian minister who oversees law and penitentiary affairs, said the men had not been granted pardons and were being transferred as prisoners, according to Antara, a government-run news agency. Mr. Mahendra said their repatriation was based on reciprocity and that Australia would give similar considerations in return, the agency reported.
Mr. Albanese said in a statement that the men “will now have the opportunity to continue their personal rehabilitation and reintegration here in Australia.” The government gave few details about their arrival, but Australian news outlets reported that because the countries have no prisoner transfer agreement, the men will be free to live their lives.
The Bali Nine — a loose ring of Sydney- and Brisbane-based Australians, some of them teenagers — were convicted of trying to smuggle more than 18 pounds of heroin, which was reported to be worth about 4 million Australian dollars at the time. Some were taken in to custody at Bali’s main airport trying to board a flight to Australia, and others at a nearby hotel.
The sentences handed down by an Indonesian court — death for some defendants, life in prison for the rest — drew heated scrutiny in Australia, particularly after it emerged that the Australian Federal Police had notified Indonesian authorities about the smuggling scheme. Australia had abolished the death penalty in 1985.
In 2009, four years after the arrests, the Australian police established guidelines that required ministerial approval before they could share information in cases that could carry the death penalty.
In 2015, Andrew Chan, 31, and Myuran Sukumaran, 34, were executed despite pleas from Tony Abbott, then Australian’s prime minister. Mr. Abbott recalled Australia’s ambassador to Indonesia in protest, calling it “a dark moment in the relationship.” Indonesia’s use of the death penalty in drug cases also strained ties with other countries.
Renae Lawrence, the sole female member of the Bali Nine, who was released in 2018 after her sentence was commuted, later appealed to Joko Widodo, then Indonesia’s president, to allow for the men’s release. Mr. Joko had declared drug abuse a “national emergency” and taken a harsh stance against death row inmates convicted of drug crimes, most of them foreigners.
“These young men are losing hope,” Ms. Lawrence said in 2020. “We acknowledge we did the wrong thing, and we continue to apologize to the Indonesian government and the citizens of Indonesia, and Australia and its people, for our stupidity.”
This month, Indonesia also agreed to release a Filipina woman, Mary Jane Veloso, who had been sentenced to death on drug smuggling charges but was spared at the last minute.
Officials in the Philippines have insisted that Ms. Veloso was on her way to work as a maid in Indonesia when she became an unwitting courier. She was convicted in 2010, and had been scheduled to be executed at the same time as Mr. Chan and Mr. Sukumaran, the Bali Nine defendants.
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