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'Bali Nine' smugglers get 3-day notice of execution in Indonesia

Convicted of trying to smuggle heroin from Indonesia to their home country of Australia in 2005, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan are the only members of the "Bali Nine" on death row.

By Doug G. Ware

NUSAKAMBANGAN ISLAND, Indonesia, April 25 (UPI) -- A pair of convicted drug smugglers scheduled to be executed in Indonesia have received official notice from the government that they will face a firing squad "imminently" -- possibly as soon as three days.

Australian nationals Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan reportedly received their execution notices Saturday and were informed by their attorneys, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

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Family members are also scheduled to visit the men at Nusakambangan prison on Sunday -- an indication that the government has indeed issued the notices. Visits are not usually allowed on Sundays, but officials said that rule is a bit more relaxed for death row prisoners whose executions are near, the ABC report said.

Earlier this year, Indonesia drew international criticism when it resumed capital punishment, and in response instituted a new procedure to notify the condemned at least 72 hours before they are executed. Drug trafficking is one of three crimes in the Pacific Asian nation that earns the death penalty, along with terrorism and murder.

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When notified of his 72-hour execution notice, the ABC reported, Sukumaran created three new self-portrait paintings in his prison cell -- one titled, "72 hours just started."

Although there has been no official word exactly what date and time the convicts' executions will occur, Australia Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said they would be "scheduled imminently." She also said the government will continue to seek clemency for the men from Indonesia's president.

Indonesia has one method of state-sponsored execution: Firing squad -- a method considered by many internationally as cruel and inhumane. In the United States, firing squads are illegal in all states except two -- Utah and Oklahoma. Utah banned the method in 2004, but will allow inmates who chose it before then to be executed in that fashion. The state also permits a firing squad if lethal injection chemicals are unavailable.

Indonesian officials said that while Sukumaran, 34, and Chan, 31, may be executed in three days, at the earliest, the government has the option of postponing their deaths if it chooses.

ARCHIVE Indonesia sentences Australians to death

The men are part of what's known as the "Bali Nine" -- a group of Australian men arrested in 2005 for attempting to smuggle $3 million worth of heroin from Indonesia to their home country. They were all subsequently convicted, and after a long appeals process seven of the nine men ultimately received prison sentences. Sukumaran and Chan are the only members of the group to be executed.

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Indonesia's attorney general's office reportedly said it will wait for a supreme court decision Monday regarding a marijuana trafficker before setting the pair's executions. The Sydney Morning Herald also reported Saturday that a French member on death row has won a temporary reprieve from Indonesia's courts.

However, clemency for either Sukumaran or Chan is highly unlikely. Indonesian President Joko Widodo has previously said he will not approve clemency for anyone convicted on drug crimes.

"I again respectfully call on the President of Indonesia to reconsider his refusal to grant clemency," Bishop said. "'It is not too late for a change of heart."

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