Bali Nine Families Get Mobbed By Reporters In Indonesia; Myuran Sukumaran’s Sister Collapses

Bali Nine families were mobbed by reporters when they arrived in Indonesia. Police officers shielded the families of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran while they moved past a crowd of people on their way to a jail on Nusakambangan Island.

The crowd of reporters made it so difficult for the families that Sukumaran's sister collapsed. She had to be carried. It is assumed that it may be the last time the family members saw their dear ones due to be executed within hours. Indonesian law allows convicted criminals to be notified 72 hours before they face the firing squad. Chan and Sukumaran were formally notified about their imminent execution on Saturday.

Helen, Chan's mother, was seen in tears after she had arrived in the island where her son would be executed. Other members of the family were shouting for “mercy” while they moved toward the prison.

Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop earlier said that Indonesia should delay the execution after former Bali Nine lawyer had accused sentencing judges of demanding bribery. The former lawyer alleged that the judges had asked for more than $130,000 as they promised to give lighter punishments to the Bali Nine convicts than death sentence.

However, Indonesia's Attorney-General HM Prasetyo said that the bribery allegations would have no impact on the scheduled execution. He said that the convicts would be executed according to the schedule. The attorney general, however, did not give any detail about the time when the execution would take place.

Prasetyo said that Indonesia was reluctant to disclose more details of the execution to prevent interference. “I will not publish the execution time to avoid unwanted matters,” he said “The executions will be conducted this week.”

According to Prasetyo, many people tried to intrude into the execution site for unclear reasons during a previous batch of executions. That was the reason why Indonesia was not ready to announce the exact execution time in public.

Lawyers for Brazilian convict Rodrigo Gularte have filed a last-minute challenge claiming procedural unfairness. Gularte’s cousin, Angela Muxfeldt, said that the man awaiting execution was found to be “calm.”

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au