Members of Indonesia's parliament are questioning delays to the executions of the Bali Nine prisoners on death row for drug smuggling.
The Bali Nine are a group of nine Australian citizens who attempted to smuggle drugs into Indonesia but were caught in Bali in April 2005. The two leaders of the group, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, are currently being detained in Nusakambangan Island as they await the date of their execution.
The pair were scheduled to be executed in February. However, the Indonesian court delayed their execution pending the hearing of various appeals lodged by other inmates on death row, after a Filipina inmate who was scheduled to be executed by firing squad together with the Bali Nine leaders was granted a judicial review.
According to TVNZ, the judicial review into the Filipina inmate's case could take at least three months, meaning that Chan and Sukumaran could be waiting months before they are executed by the Indonesian government.
Members of the Indonesia parliament are questioning the continued delay to the executions.
Parliamentarian Elnino Husein Mohi said in an article by the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) that the Indonesian people could lose trust in the Bali government if the executions continue to be stayed. Mr Mohi also cited the execution of six drug felons that went ahead in January without any delays, even though there were five foreigners in the group.
"Hopefully, the delay is truly due to technical reasons," he said.
SMH reported rumours of delays to the executions because of Indonesian President Joko Widdo's phone being tapped, after whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that the Australian Signals Directorate and New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau attempted to tap Indonesia's largest mobile phone service provider Telkomsel.
