Indonesia has postponed the transfer of six convicted drug smugglers, including five foreigners, to a prison island for execution due to technical problems and to allow the two Australians among them to spend more time with their families, an official said on Tuesday.
They are among eight convicts who are facing imminent execution despite international appeals for clemency. Among them are Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the ringleaders of a group of nine Australians arrested in 2005 for attempting to smuggle 8.3 kg of heroin to Australia from the Indonesian resort island of Bali. Authorities had said on Monday that the eight would be moved this week to Nusa Kambangan prison off the main island of Java.
But Attorney General’s Office spokesman Tony Spontana said on Tuesday that executors surveying the island found it was not ready to handle the executions. He said that “the execution plan is still on schedule” since the inmates’ clemency appeals have been rejected.
