Bali Nine Executions: Australian Govt Defends Death Penalty Stand

Following the execution of the Bali Nine pair, the Australian government has defended its stance on death penalty. The debate is over how police is advised while cooperating with law enforcement agencies abroad.

According to the current police protocol, while working with foreign nations, they must consider the death sentence aspect of every case they deal with. Last year, in 2014, a ministerial direction was issued by Justice Minister Michael Keenan that had done away with the death penalty consideration. According to that it was not compulsory for the cops to keep in mind the potential for death penalty of a suspect before they shared information with overseas agents.

Opposition justice spokesman David Feeney categorically asserted in a letter recently written to the Justice Minister that it was imperative to include the directive. According to Feeney, the omission of the clause that deals with death penalty not being necessary for the police to take into account, in the ministerial directive, "raises concerns that protecting Australians from the risk of being subject to the death penalty in a foreign jurisdiction is no longer to be considered a critical priority for the AFP."

Feeney has demanded to know whether the omission was intentional or was it just merely overlooked. Five years ago in 2010, for the very first time, the Australian Federal Police or the AFP were instructed as per ministerial direction by Labour's then Minister for Home Affairs, Brendan O'Connor to "take account of the government's long-standing opposition to the application of the death penalty, in performing its international liaison functions."

The AFP which has kept mum all along has decided to hold a press conference on drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran’s arrests in 2005. Independent senator Nick Xenophon who called the erasure of death penalty from ministerial directive as disturbing, has stated that he will pursue the matter with the AFP at upcoming Senate hearings. He wants the AFP's role in the arrests to be investigated by the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, on an urgent basis.

Meanwhile, the Abbott government has criticised the Labour Party which is trying to only reap political gains so soon after the deaths of Chan and Sukumaran. At a press conference on Thursday, Keenan had remarked that the guidelines were not omitted and were still very much in place. The Australian Federal Police is set to be called before a parliamentary committee to explain its role in reporting the Bali Nine to Indonesian authorities.

The writer can be contacted at ritambanati@yahoo.com