Bali Nine father still holds out hope
THE father of Bali Nine heroin smuggler Scott Rush says he hopes Australian officials can appeal to the Indonesian Government to save his son’s life.
Indonesia’s Constitutional Court today threw out a challenge against the death penalty in drug cases.
Scott Rush was arrested with eight other Australians on April 17, 2005, in Denpasar in Bali while trying to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin to Australia.
He and five others have been sentenced to death by firing squad.
The court also today ruled foreigners don’t have the right to challenge Indonesia’s laws.
Scott’s father Lee, who has led a campaign against capital punishment, said he still hoped and prayed his son and the others could serve out their time in an Australian jail.
Bali trio loses death row challenge
Indonesian constitutional judges have knocked back a legal challenge by three of six Australians sentenced to death for drug trafficking over the validity of the death sentences delivered against them.
In a split decision delivered in a Jakarta court room, the panel of nine judges rejected the application by three Australians and two Indonesians and upheld the death penalty in relation to drugs offences.
The judges ruled that the right to life in the constitution and under international protocols was not absolute and had to be balanced against the rights of victims of the drug trade.
Sparing the Bali bombers: Tim Lindsey
OPPOSITION foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland was dead right when he suggested that Australians should not support the execution of the Bali bombers. Not because their crimes are not heinous in the extreme. They are. But there are two other compelling reasons. First, opposition to the death penalty is national policy. It has been abolished throughout Australia and is the formal policy of both the Labor and Liberal parties.
And in 1991 Australia ratified the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights with its “international commitment to abolish the death penalty”.
Drug mule’s parents say death never the answer
LEE and Christine Rush are the first to acknowledge the grief suffered by the families of the Australians killed in Kuta in 2002.
But the couple, whose 21-year-old son Scott has been sentenced to death by firing squad in Bali for trying to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia, insist that it is never a bad time to speak out about the death penalty — bombing anniversary or not.
Mrs Rush described it as “extremely unfortunate” that the debate about the death penalty had turned into a “debacle” this week after Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Robert McClelland was widely criticised for pledging consistency in a Labor government’s opposition to capital punishment — whether for foreign terrorists or Australian drug smugglers.
Death stance is hypocritical – Tim Costello
Like Van Tuong Nguyen – executed in Singapore last year for drug trafficking – Scott is young, admits he was naive and wrong and reflects deeply on his stupid mistake. A fatal mistake.
I oppose the death penalty. And I believe that such opposition must be consistent and not selective.
Bali nine mother pushes for stronger anti-death penalty stance
The parents of convicted Bali nine drug mule Scott Rush say Australia needs to reinforce its stance against capital punishment to avoid international confusion.
The 21-year-old from Queensland was arrested at Bali airport in 2005 with heroin strapped to his legs and was later sentenced to death.
World Anti-Death Penalty Day – Forum & March
Wednesday is World Anti-Death Penalty Day. In Brisbane we have organised a march and forum on the Tuesday against the ongoing use of the Death Penalty.
The rally will begin at Brisbane Square (cnr George and Queen Sts) at 5.30pm, then march across the bridge and on to the site of the forum – 16 Peel St, South Brisbane, where Margret RoadKnight will perform a few songs, then will be followed by speeches from Father Frank Brennan, AO, Paul Wilson the Chair of Criminology at Bond University and also from Christine and Lee Rush, whose son Scott is facing execution in Indonesia.
As well as attending these events, AACP asks all those who oppose capital punishment to take further action – by writing to our Prime Minister, all opposition parties and to the media to express your views.
Australians Against Capital Punishment, Just Peace and Amnesty International invite you to a public forum to commemorate World Anti-Death Penalty Day.Tuesday October 9th – 6.30 for a 7pm start. Lvl 2, Trades & Labour Council Building, Cnr Peel & Grey St, South Brisbane – parking at rear
Join us for a candlelight march before the forum
5.30pm at Brisbane Square, George St
Forum to be opened by a performance by Margret RoadKnight
Speakers include
Father Frank Brennan, AO – Jesuit Priest and social justice advocate
Paul Wilson – Chair of Criminology Bond University
Lee and Christine Rush – parents of Scott Rush, one of the young Australians facing the death sentence in Indonesia.
Join us to discuss the ongoing campaign for the abolition of the death penalty worldwide. In any case, in any country, in any circumstances – Justice must not kill. For more information, call Tina on 0423 709 445
or email: justine.hampson@gmail.com
Other organisations supporting the campaign – Foreign Prisoners Support Service, GetUp! JustRights Qld, Qld Council for Civil Liberties, Sisters Inside.
