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| Martin Stephens |
'It is more humane to just take me out the back and shoot me like Andrew and Myuran,' says courier who was convicted to life in prison
One of the Bali 9 drug smugglers sentenced to life in jail says he has lost hope under Indonesia's drugs policy and believes it would be more humane to execute him now, rather than let him die in jail.
Martin Stephens was one of the couriers caught in the 2005 heroin trafficking plot for which Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are awaiting execution.
In a letter to the Australian newspaper, Stephens said the decision of the Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, to refuse the pair clemency made him wonder what hope there was for freedom or redemption for other drug offenders, like himself.
"It is more humane to just take me out the back and shoot me like Andrew and Myuran," he wrote. "What frightens me now is that the new policy of Jokowi has destroyed hope."
Stephens, 39, is serving his life term in a jail in East Java, where he is involved in teaching English.
But the newspaper reported he regretted not being able to properly support his wife, Christine Puspayanti, whom he married while in prison, and was also sad about the impending executions of Sukumaran, 33, and Chan, 31.
"It could be me being taken to Nusa Kambangan and being shot in the heart. It's a terrifying thought," he wrote.
Bali's police chief, Albertus Julius Benny Mokalu, said he was still coordinating with the prosecutor, government agencies and the military regarding the transfer of Chan and Sukumaran to the execution site. The transfer is expected to happen within days.
"We're doing the maximum preparation so that when the 2 death-row convicts leave Kerobokan prison for Batu prison, they'll go safely and comfortably," he said on Sunday.
For safety reasons, he would prefer to transport the men during the day. "We're still coordinating to get the best results so there will be no problems," he said.
The special mobile brigade police on Friday rehearsed the transport of the men under heavy security to Bali's airport, where the military could then fly them to Nusa Kambangan, an island off central Java.
Widodo has said no number of representations from foreign governments on behalf of their death row citizens would stop him carrying out the executions.
Source: The Guardian, March 2, 2015
