A 24-year-old Aussie from the Sri Lankan Tamil community was sentenced to death this week for running a ring smuggling heroin from Bali to Australia:
 |
|
Myuran Sukumaran |
Bali Nine “enforcer” Myuran Sukumaran today joined Andrew Chan in being condemned to death by firing squad for attempting to smuggle heroin from Indonesia to Australia. [Link]
I doubt the codename helped their credibility:
The court heard that Sukumaran assisted Chan in strapping bags of heroin to the legs and bodies of Renae Lawrence, Czugaj, Martin Stephens and Scott Rush… On April 5, it is alleged, Sukumaran gave Lawrence $500 and a Nokia mobile phone. He instructed her to call an Australian contact codenamed ‘Pinocchio‘, the court heard. [Link]
<
p>I bet they prefer the sound of ‘hakuna matata‘:
Cheers from some Indonesian anti-drug activists echoed in the court as the judges announced the words “hukuman mati“, meaning death sentence. [Link]
Maybe they should’ve read the fine print:
During the trial [a drug mule] said he was so excited at the offer of an overseas holiday in Bali that he was blind to the possible reasons behind the free trip. [Link]
I don’t think this is the judge they had in mind when they made Judge Dredd:
Judge Suryowati said she looked down at the bench in front of her, tears welling in her eyes, as [the chief judge] announced Sukumaran would be executed. [Link]
There has been some interesting but unsubstantiated speculation about whether this was a fundraising operation for the Tamil Tigers:
Indonesia hopes to obtain Interpol assistance to investigate into the alleged links between the convicted drug smuggler of Tamil origin Mayuran Sukumaran and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)… According to Interpol sources in Colombo, London and several other capitals, there are more than 100 Tamil militants serving jail terms in Europe for drug smuggling. “Some of the leaders are definitely LTTE cadres,” the source said. The LTTE started drug smuggling from the ‘golden triangle’ to Europe and North America, Interpol sources said. [Link]
The only female drug mule in this case was apparently on the rebound:
In October last year, [Renae] Lawrence had split with Tracie Sansom – a mother of three who was more than 10 years her senior… Just over three weeks before she was arrested at Bali’s Ngurah Rai airport with wads of what Bali police said was heroin taped to her body, police allege she stole a car and sped up the Pacific Highway. It was 4.30am on March 26, and Lawrence had found company in Matthew Norman, a fellow catering worker who was nine years her junior and also one of the Bali nine. Police used road spikes to stop the pair… [Link]
No-excuses capital punishment for drug-related offences has been around for some time, in countries like Malaysia, Indonesia. How much has this really helped bring down the drug menace, I wonder. Stats, anyone?
I think that it is morally repugnant to sentence people to death for drug smuggling. It is an evil to take a life for this crime.
In this context, a much debated libertarian viewpoint calls for legalization of drugs and sees the whole “war” against drugs as only leading to further criminalization and exacerbation of the problem. For example see http://www.drcnet.org/cops/index.html website.
Possibly, but it is just as morally repugnant to use men, women and even dogs as drug mules. Watch Maria Full of Grace and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
A death sentence may sound harsh, but drug addiction and the drug trade leads to innumerable deaths worldwide. Shouldn’t the drug peddlers be held responsible?
Manish, I am a longtime sepialurker, and I usually enjoy your posts, but I found this one in extremely poor taste. This guy’s face, heart and guts are going to be shredded and pulped in a few weeks. Capital punishment stinks, but death by firing squad sux bigtime donkey’s balls. I dont know what is worse – the cheers, or the bad puns, or may be I am over reacting because it could’ve easily been one of my friends in Malaysia who are partial to pot.
manish, this case has some tragic parallels with the case of 25 year old Aussie Van Tuong Ngyuen, arrested in Singapore while on transit to Australia carrying drugs. He was sentenced to death and hung just before Christmas last year, he committed the crime to relieve his twin brother of $25,000 in debt, the Singapore government refused Clemency and Van was mercilessly hung, Indian hang-man Darshan Singh was said to be responsible.
Manish, the debate on the pros and cons of capital punishment for non-violent crimes set aside, I echo bad taste bear‘s sentiments that the jokes here are certainly inappropriate. As I scanned down the lines, I was half afraid the article was to be classified under black humour.
Your posts are usually very good. I’ll put this one down as the odd one out.
timepass
So put him in prison and throw away the key. Plus, it is the mules that get executed, not just the big men (and they rarely even ever get caught)
Posed…
And answered. A marvel of self-containment.
I grew up in Malaysia, and one of my earliest memories in regards to the illicit drugs issue was this public service announcement, featuring a picture of a scrawny dude lassoed by the hangman’s noose, with a deep voice reverbrating in the background, “Dadah, musuh parah” (Drugs, the brutal enemy). The L.A Times had an excellent editorial on the death penalty.
Manish, the ‘unsubstantiated’ reports are just that. The Asian Tribune (by the way, not a particularly reputable news source) itself indicated that its story was unbalanced. All the internet links to this ‘story’ reference the one Asian Tribune source.
Myuran is an Australian, 2nd gen-er, who happens to be of Sri Lankan Tamil origin. Not every Tamil convicted of a crime is a ringleader of the LTTE. Making the link in this post is just the type of stereotyping that I thought SM was above. 🙁
Manish, Living in a country, where hundreds are rotting in jails awaiting their execution, do you find it easy to give credit to the expeditious and cheap justice of third world countries like Indonesia ? Be serious ! A regular reader of SM, I ‘m much disappointed by you guys
My eyes are a-rollin’. Heroin is not pot, distribution is not personal use, snark is not a stance on the death penalty, and I save my sympathies for people other than drugrunners. I haven’t seen anything suggesting Sukumaran was wrongly convicted, so you’re gonna have to come in hotter than vague skepticism.
‘Death by firing’ squad is really a barbaric method. It’s practiced a bit differently in Indonesia:
“TOM IGGULDEN: Bagus Wahyono commanded a firing squad in 2001, and offers a chilling description of what Chan and Sukumaran will face – a 10-man squad where only one soldier has a live round of ammunition.
BAGUS WAHYONO: At the time, the execution weapon used was a long one like this, containing blank and live bullets in a cartridge like this. Only one of the marksmen is carrying a weapon with a live bullet in it, the rest of the bullets are blanks.
TOM IGGULDEN: At around midnight, prisoners are marched into a remote area of jungle, well away from human habitation.
BAGUS WAHYONO: After we reach the location, the firing squad would stand in position 5m to 10m away from the prisoners. We’d tie them to a tree if there were trees, or if there were no trees we would put up a pole. Then the prisoners’ eyes were covered with a black blindfold and then the doctor marked their hearts as targets for the firing squad to aim at.
TOM IGGULDEN: If the soldier with a live round misses his mark, the commander of the squad is sometimes called on to finish the job off.
BAGUS WAHYONO: If they’re still alive, then it’s the responsibility of the team leader, which at the time was me, to shoot them in the head to make sure they die.”
source
What an absolutely horrible way to die. We like to think we are civilised but in many ways we are still barbarians.
Manish – so you think the punishment fits the crime?
Bengali – no. So you think drugrunners should run free?
Exercise in non sequiturs.
The “snark is not a stance on the death penalty” was negated by the “I save my sympathies for people other than drugrunners.”
Besides, there is something extremely morbid about trivialising someone’s impending violent death.
Sure, for Manichaeans.
See #9.
For your birthday I’m swapping out your Literalist Sledgehammer for some Subtlety Dust.