In heartbreaking scenes, the families of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan have begged Indonesian President Joko Widodo to spare the lives of the Bali Nine pair.
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Sukumaran’s mother, Raji, said: “I’m begging the President ... please don’t kill my son.
“I just had to say goodbye to my son — he’s healthy and he’s beautiful. I’m asking the government not to kill him. Please, please don’t kill him today.”
In a brief statement as he disembarked at Cilacap port, Chan’s brother Michael said: “We are very upset as a family to have to go through this. No human being should ever have to go through this. It’s torture.
“Anyone with a heart would forgive these guys for what they’ve done and show mercy.”
Myuran Sukumaran’s brother Chinthu Sukumaran also pleaded for the Indonesian President to intervene and spare the men’s lives.
“You’re ordering the murder of nine people. These are people with families that love them; they don’t need to die,” he said.
“I ask you to please show mercy.
“Myuran is at peace with what will happen.
“He knows he has to be strong and take care of the other people who are with him, and we know that’s his focus.”
Late last night, Indonesia still had not formally notified the Australian government of the impending executions as a former ambassador warned the two countries were facing their most serious rift since the East Timor crisis.
High-level ministerial meetings with Indonesia will be cancelled and senior government sources say all aspects of the diplomatic relationship are “on the table” in the fallout of the Bali Nine case.
Fairfax Media has also confirmed the Abbott government will almost certainly withdraw Australia’s ambassador.
The families had arrived at the port of Cilacap yesterday morning for their last visit to Nusakambangan prison island.
Sukumaran’s sister Brintha collapsed as she wailed in grief, surrounded by a large media pack.
Chan’s family arrived soon after, protected by embassy officials.
Brother Michael was ashen faced, while his mother, Helen, covered her face as she sobbed.
At the eleventh hour the families learnt the men had been denied their choice of a spiritual counsellor, who stays with the condemned until the bitter end.
As Michael Chan told Fairfax Media in an SMS: “Last bit of dignity denied.”
Chan and Sukumaran had asked for Salvation Army minister David Soper and Bayside Church senior pastor Christie Buckingham to accompany them in their last hours.
Both are old friends, both know the men intimately and have been part of their journey since their 2005 arrest for smuggling heroin out of Indonesia.
Both have witnessed their transformation from stupid, selfish young men to the painter and the pastor.
The reasons for the last-minute denial seem inexplicable: just two days earlier the Australian embassy had been assured it would be OK.
In past days the families had been driven into the ferry dock, but yesterday they had to walk the dusty narrow road to the harbour.
The Sukumaran family became trapped inside a feverish media pack.
