Australian Death Row Convicts Flown to Cilacap

Kuta, Bali, (Antara) - Australian Bali Nine pair Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were removed from Krobokan prison in Bali and flown to Cilacap, Central Java, on Wednesday morning for execution. The chartered Wing Air plane with registration number ATR-72-600 PK-WGO that the two Australian death row convicts boarded took off from Ngurah Rai Airport amid heavy rain at 6.50 am local time. They were expected to arrive at Cilacap\'s Tunggul Wulung Airport an hour later. From the Tunggul Wulung airport, they were immediately transferred to the execution island of Nusakambangan where they would face the firing squad. Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yasona H. Laoly said in Jakarta on Tuesday that the Indonesian Government was ready to carry out the execution of the two ringleaders of the drug smuggling group called \"Bali Nine\". \"We have been ready to carry out the execution,\" he stated after the declaration of the National Natural Resource and Environment Law Reform Program at the vice presidential office. The minister, however, did not reveal exactly when the execution would be carried out. Special rooms to accommodate the two convicts at the Nusakambangan Prison and other preparations have been made. Chan and Sukumarang are among the 11 convicts on death row who will be executed soon. Moreover, several foreign countries whose citizens are among those on the execution list, as well as the United Nations, have expressed their protest against the plan. However, the Indonesian government is adamant that the execution will proceed as planned. President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has turned down their requests for clemency. Earlier, Jokowi said that no clemency will be granted to drug traffickers who have been sentenced to death. \"Capital punishment is still our positive law, and it is not the president who decides the death penalty, but it is the court\'s verdict. The president is only requested to grant clemency, but there is no clemency for drug traffickers,\" the president remarked here on Monday.