Bali Nine: Andrew Chan Calls Himself ‘A Condemned Man’ Not Worthy of ‘A Hug’
Bali Nine convict Andrew Chan wrote a letter to his teenage self. The Australian drug offender wrote about the evil effects of drugs on a person’s personality.
Chan wrote that the ultimate result of being involved in drug trafficking would be to face a firing squad. He said that the family and friends would be heartbroken. "This happened to you because you thought taking drugs was cool," Chan wrote, "Underneath, you're not a bad person and drugs made you different."
It was filmmaker Malinda Rutter, Chan’s friend, who apparently asked him to write a letter to his 15-year-old self before his transfer to the Nusakambangan prison island where he was supposed to be executed. Rutter, whose sister died of drug overdose, said that Chan and his inmate Myuran Sukumaran were “totally reformed.” She said that the claim was “totally genuine.”
Rutter, at the same time, did not endorse the actions of the drug convicts. She is going to make a film on drug education and use Chan’s letter in it. She added that Chan, a friend she would lose, could have made such a difference with drug education. Rutter said that Chan had made “the wrong choices.”
Chan said in the letter how much he missed his family. He said the pain he put on his family was agonising. He called himself “a condemned man” who was not worthy of a “simple touch, such as a hug.” He wrote that he had “nothing but an iron bar to hug” rather than to be embraced by those he loved and missed."
According to reports, Chan and Sukumaran might have been executed during the weekend. However, Indonesia is now willing to wait for the legal appeals of the drug convicts. This means that the Bali Nine convicts might have to wait in the “death” island for weeks before they may face the firing squad.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo earlier suggested that he might abolish the capital punishment in future. His remarks encouraged activists, who are against the death penalty, to believe that the Bali Nine pair may eventually avoid the firing squad.
Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@IBTimes.com.au
