I don’t know if this is news in the UK or outside Australasia, it’s obviously headline news here in Australia and has been for some months. Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were the ringleaders of the so-called “Bali Nine”, nine misguided kids who got caught smuggling heroin in Bali 10 years ago, and were sentenced to death. After umpteen legal processes and pleas from the Australian government it looks like tonight they will be lined up and shot by a firing squad.

There are so many issues surrounding this case – the death penalty itself, the weakness of the newly elected Indonesian prime minister etc etc. What is often overlooked is that the Australian Federal Police knew about these people and let them be arrested in Bali, for whatever reason.

Another issue is that if ever there was a case for commuting the death sentence it’s this – the two men seem to have remarkably got their act together and are willing to remain in an Indonesian jail for the rest of lives helping other prisoners. One of them is an accomplished painter.

There’s a lot of killing and disasters in the world at the moment but this case makes » Continue Reading.