Chan and Sukumaran told to prepare for execution
Indonesian authorities have ordered Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran to be moved out of prison to an island to be prepared for execution 'as soon as possible'.
This is despite several appeals for their lives from the Australian government.
Momock Bambang Samiarso, head of Bali Provincial Prosecutor's Office, said a meeting on Thursday afternoon confirmed the Australians would be executed outside of Bali, but he wouldn't say where.
"On the timing, there will be another meeting," he told reporters.
"But we ask it to be as soon as possible."
Indonesia's Attorney-General HM Prasetyo has said his preferred location for the executions is Nusakambangan, a prison island off Central Java.
But he had also said the executions would take time to organise, as prisoners would be transferred from jails all over Indonesia.
Officials must give prisoners 72 hours notice of their executions.
But prosecutors this week said they would try to keep the transfers secret.
The pair were convicted of heroin trafficking in Indonesia in 2006 and put on death row.
Today Australia tried to step up the pressure on Indonesia to spare the lives of two drug smugglers facing the firing squad.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop warned their execution would be a grave injustice.
Chan and Sukumaran, the Australian ringleaders of the so-called "Bali Nine" heroin drug smuggling gang, were arrested in 2005 and sentenced to death the following year.
The pair recently lost their final appeals to Indonesian President Joko Widodo for clemency despite arguing that they had rehabilitated themselves in prison. They could face the firing squad this month.
In an emotional speech in parliament, Bishop pleaded for their lives.
"This motion goes to the heart of what we believe will be a grave injustice against two Australian citizens facing execution in Indonesia," she said, adding that the pair made "shocking mistakes" but deserved another chance.
"We are not understating the gravity of the nature of these crimes.
"Without doubt, Andrew and Myuran need to pay for their crimes with lengthy jail sentences but they should not need to pay with their lives."
The deputy leader of Labor also has made an impassioned plea for the lives of the Bali Nine ringleaders by highlighting the case of her husband who was jailed for drug dealing but given a second chance.
Tanya Plibersek’s husband Michael Coutts-Trotter was 21 when he was convicted of conspiracy to import drugs in 1986 and he served three years of a nine-year prison sentence.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said she had received letters from both women and phone calls from the minister.
Her replies were clear and consistent, she said.
"I have told Julie that this is not against a country, this is not against nationals of a certain country, but this is against a crime, against an extraordinary crime," she told reporters in Jakarta.
"We will keep on communicating, explaining, in consistent language like that."
While Indonesia and Australia keep trading views on the death penalty to no effect for Chan and Sukumaran, their families continue visiting their prison daily.
Artist Ben Quilty and Victorian Supreme Court Judge Lex Lasry joined them on Thursday.
Only President Joko Widodo can save the men from execution but he gave a defiant vow this week not to succumb to outside pressure on the death penalty for drug felons.
Indonesian authorities have already informed Canberra they intend to proceed with the executions, despite public appeals from Bishop and Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Lawyers for the men on Wednesday lodged a rare legal challenge to the president's decision to reject their appeals for clemency, taking the unusual step of challenging Widodo's decision to refuse them a pardon.
Indonesian authorities have repeatedly said the appeal for presidential clemency is a death row convict's final chance to avoid the firing squad, but the men's lawyers believe the latest move could at least delay the executions.
"Our shared hope is the Indonesian government and its people will show mercy to Andrew and Myuran," said Bishop.
"Both men are deeply, sincerely remorseful for their actions. Both men have made extraordinary efforts to rehabilitate. Andrew and Myuran are the model of what penal systems the world over long to achieve."
Widodo has been a vocal supporter of capital punishment and warned Indonesia is facing a drugs emergency, with addictions and deaths on the rise.
The men's lawyers claim it is "unacceptable" for the president to use blanket arguments to refuse clemency.
Indonesia last month executed six drug offenders, including five from other countries.
