Bishops in Australia have joined the appeal for the lives of two convicted Australians on death row in Indonesia to be spared, saying that a jail sentence is the appropriate punishment and not death.
According to the Catholic News Agency, Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne sent a statement to Joko Widodo, the Indonesian president, appealing for him to stay the death sentence for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
Chan and Sukumaran are two of the nine Australians that were arrested in Indonesia for attempted drug trafficking. They are the only ones of their group, called the "Bali Nine," who received the death sentence after Indonesia ended a four-year moratorium on the death penalty in 2013.
"Justice must prevail and appropriate punishment used for the common good for our societies when such crimes are committed," the bishop's letter said. "However, we believe that jail sentences, not execution, are the more appropriate means of punishing offenders and deterring those who would consider committing such crimes."
Archbishop Hart also noted in the letter that Chan and Sukumaran have reformed after spending almost 10 years in prison. According to Hart, the two convicted drug traffickers have "initiated education programmes with the intention of supporting and reforming other prisoners."
Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney, together with Ibrahim Abu Mohammed of the Australian National Imams' Council, also pleaded for the pair, stating that execution will rob them of the "opportunity for ongoing rehabilitation."
The three religious figures are joined by many prominent Australians in pleading for clemency for the pair. According to the BBC, all of the living former Prime Ministers of Australia - Malcolm Fraser, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, John Howard, Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard - have asked the Indonesian government to stay the execution of the pair.
As part of the preparations for their execution, Chan and Sukumaran were scheduled to be transferred to a prison in Indonesia's Nusakambangan island. However, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that the transfer was postponed to allow legal appeals for the pair to be heard by the appropriate courts.
