The remaining members of the Bali Nine are back from Indonesia, having served their time:
Having served almost 20 years in jail in Indonesia, the men have had the rest of their life sentences commuted on humanitarian grounds on the condition that they continue rehabilitation in Australia. They are now free but are banned from returning to Indonesia. There was no diplomatic quid pro quo, Guardian Australia understands.
“We would like to convey our deep appreciation to the government of Indonesia for its cooperation to facilitate the men’s return to Australia on humanitarian grounds,” Albanese said in a statement, adding his thanks to the president, Prabowo Subianto, for his “act of compassion”.
“This reflects the strong bilateral relationship and mutual respect between Indonesia and Australia. These Australians served more than 19 years in prison in Indonesia. It was time for them to come home.
“They will now have the opportunity to continue their rehabilitation and reintegration here in Australia.”
But they always had that opportunity. They could easily have been arrested here in Australia. There was, indeed, a whole stack of AFP raids in Sydney and Brisbane on the same day the Nine were arrested in Indonesia to round up the rest of the drug syndicate. The AFP could’ve got them here, instead of letting the Indonesians do it. They could’ve been here all along, but then we would’ve had to cover the cost. And I don’t think I will ever be fully convinced that this wasn’t deliberate cos the AFP knew the Nine stood a fair chance of being executed (of which two of them infamously were; four more were sentenced to death on appeal before being commuted) which they wouldn’t be here. I don’t actually have much if any sympathy for the Bali Nine, who should’ve known what they could be in for, but equally I view the AFP’s actions in the whole case very dimly indeed…
