claiming that Indonesia is facing an “emergency” due to rising narcotics use.
The Australians, in their early 30s, were sentenced to death in 2006 for trying to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia. They recently lost their appeals for presidential clemency, typically the final chance to avoid the firing squad.
The others facing imminent execution also lost their clemency appeals in recent months.
Relatives of the French convict, Serge Atlaoui, and the Brazilian, Rodrigo Gularte, visited them on Thursday on Nusakambangan, dashing past a scrum of waiting journalists before boarding a boat to make the crossing to the prison island off Java.
Ursa Supit, an anti-death penalty campaigner who met on Thursday with a Nigerian death row prisoner being held next to Chan and Sukumaran, said the Australians were alone in separate cells and could only communicate through the walls.
“They sounded fine, but they have nothing because they had to leave all their stuff in Bali,” Supit said, adding she herself did not meet the Australians but the Nigerian had been communicating with them.
As well as Australia, Brazil and France have piled pressure on Jakarta, with Paris summoning Indonesia’s envoy and the Brazilian president refusing to accept the credentials of the new Indonesian ambassador.
Nigeria added its voice to the growing concern, with foreign ministry spokesman Ogbole Amedu Ode saying that the country’s ambassador to Jakarta was on Thursday due to appeal to the Indonesian foreign minister.
Early on Thursday, an impromptu bipartisan candlelight vigil for the Australians was held outside the country’s parliament in Canberra, which was attended by Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
Canberra has made more than 20 representations to Indonesian officials since January regarding the pair but Widodo has been unswayed.
Bishop warned Chan and Sukumaran’s execution would have implications, not just in Australia but globally.
“Of course, I’m deeply concerned about the impact of these executions not just on the Australian relationship with Indonesia but on Indonesia’s reputation worldwide,” she said. “The movement against the death penalty is very strong.”