‘They said thank you and shook our hand’: Bali official

MYURAN  Sukumaran and Andrew Chan have spent their first night in isolation on the execution island of Nusakambangan after a day of tense drama.

MYURAN  Sukumaran and Andrew Chan have spent their first night in isolation on the execution island of Nusakambangan after a day of tense drama during which the seemingly ill-fated pair ­appeared to be the calm centre of a storm of troops, media and onlookers.

The Australians were transported from their Bali prison to the island surrounded by hundreds of armed guards and via armoured vehicle, air and, finally, ferry.

The handcuffed and chained pair faced the 700km journey from Kerobokan jail to their final destination with silent resignation.

“We picked them up from their cell at 5am,” said Nyoman Putra Surya, head of the Corrections Division at Bali Provincial Law and Human Rights Office. “They were ready. They even said thank you.”

TIMELINE: Bali Two

Mr Nyoman said the men smiled and shook their hands ­before they were searched and handcuffed. “From their face ­expression they looked ready and they said thank you to us, we shake hands. They said they have been treated well here. We have given them extra time to meet with their families.”

Members of both families are today planning to go to Cilacap, the Central Java town opposite the Nusakambangan penal island. Unless they receive a last-minute reprieve, the pair will be executed by firing squad on the island as soon as Sunday.

Elaborate preparations had been under way for the transfer of Sukumaran, 33, and Chan, 31, since 2.30am yesterday when police started pouring into the area. More than 100 police with water cannons were deployed at Kerobokan to guard the men’s transfer to Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport.

They were boarded on to a chartered light aircraft, which left the Bali airport at 6.55am and flew to Cilacap.

BALI TWO: The final journey

Their Wings Air plane was ­accompanied on the journey by two air force Sukhoi fighter jets which, after they arrived at Cilacap’s airport — sealed off by police to ensure no public access — performed several low passes over the town.

Landing at Cilacap about 8:15am, Chan and Sukuraman were met by dozens more Brimob, regular officers and penitentiary officials.

They were hustled, heads-down and handcuffed, into another Barracuda armoured personnel carrier which raced through the town and was driven on to a ferry at the Justice Ministry’s special port which it uses to service the prison island.

Before 10am they had been landed on the Nusakambangan reception centre dock and were being processed.

Prior to their departure, supporters had held a vigil, placing candles around the Hindu temple inside the prison grounds.

Some of the women were weeping, hugging and comforting one another.

Mercy Campaign co-founder Matthew Goldberg said the ­images of the men being moved from Kerobokan were distressing, but he still held hope that President Joko Widodo would spare them.

The President has rejected both men’s application appeals for clemency, their last legal avenue but their lawyers are pushing to have the cases reconsidered on the grounds Mr Joko did not take ­account of their rehabilitation and good works for other inmates.

“It is still within the President’s jurisdiction to exercise his discretion, to acknowledge circumstances of their claim and to grant them clemency. That can still occur,” Mr Goldberg said yesterday morning.

One of their Australian lawyers said the men were coping remarkably well despite the clock ticking down. Melbourne barrister ­Michael O’Connell said it was ­appalling that Indonesia was moving the men to their place of execution when a final legal appeal and allegations of judicial corruption were yet to be resolved. “It’s been very distressing to see what’s happening this morning,” he said of the chaotic scenes outside Bali’s Kerobokan prison, as the men were driven away, bound for the island where they will be shot.

“There’s always hope while they are alive.” Mr O’Connell the men should not have been moved, given their legal team is pursuing an appeal in a Jakarta court.

The three Bali Nine members remaining at Kerobokan jail — Matthew Norman, Si Yi Chen and Michael Czugaj, all serving life sentences, have maintained an air of silence amid the distressing removal of their fellow Australians.

But one of the couriers revealed recently they were all devastated.