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28 March 2024

Bali Nine enter final hours: Australian marries girlfriend

Chinthu Sukumaran and Michael Chan, respective brothers of Australian drug convicts and death row prisoners Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, deliver a statement to journalists after arriving at the river port near the town of Cilacap after visiting the Nusakambangan maximum security prison island. (Reuters)

Published
By Reuters

An Australian death row convict married his girlfriend in prison on Monday, a day before his possible execution by an Indonesian firing squad for drug offences.

Andrew Chan, who was convicted in 2006 along with fellow Australian Myuran Sukumaran for trying to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia, exchanged vows with Indonesian fiancee Febyanti at a maximum security prison in central Java. A small group of family and friends attended the ceremony.

Seven foreign drug convicts on death row in Indonesia as they await imminent execution, while Frenchman Serge Atlaoui (bottom R) being excluded from the list with an outstanding legal appeal. Top row from left: Australians Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, Filipina Mary Jane Veloso and Nigerian Martin Anderson. Bottom row from left: Nigerians Raheem Agbaje Salami, Silvester Obiekwe Nwolise,  Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte, and Frenchman Serge Atlaoui. (AFP)

"It's tough times but it's happy times at the same time," Michael Chan, Andrew's brother, told reporters outside the Nusakambangan island jail, where the executions will take place.

"We just hope that the president somewhere will find some compassion and mercy for these two, this young couple so they can carry on with their lives."

Brintha Sukumaran (lower L), the sister of Australian drug convict and death row prisoner Myuran Sukumaran, breaks down after arriving at Nusakambangan port in Cilalcap. (AFP)

Chan and Sukumaran are among a group of nine drug convicts, mostly foreigners, that are due to be executed after President Joko Widodo refused their clemency pleas.

Indonesia's Constitutional Court agreed to consider on May 12 a last-ditch legal challenge brought by Chan, his lawyer said, raising hopes their execution could be delayed. But the Attorney General's office later said the executions would take place this week.

A section of a floral sculpture that reads "keep hope alive" is seen during a candlelight vigil on Sydney Harbour foreshore to call for mercy for two convicted Australian drug traffickers on death row. (AFP)

The married couple met while Chan was imprisoned in a Bali jail. Febyanti, an Indonesian pastor, regularly visited the jail as part of her work, local media said.

Febyanti and other family members will no longer be able to visit Chan starting from Tuesday afternoon, hours before his expected execution.