Andrew Chan, the convicted Bali Nine drug trafficker who has been sentenced to death in Indonesia, had his plea for presidential clemency rejected.
31-year-old Chan may be executed by firing squad along with fellow Australian and Bali Nine member, 33-year-old Myuran Sukumaran, within the next few weeks. Sukumaran also had his appeal for a presidential pardon, earlier this month.
The rejection of the appeal was confirmed on Thursday in a letter to the Denpasar district court.
Chan and Sukumaran were convicted by Indonesian courts in 2006 of plotting to bring 8.3kg of heroin in to Australia from the Indonesian island of Bali in 2005. Both men were sentenced to death by firing squad.
Recently inaugurated Indonesian president Joko Widodo vowed to take an extreme stance on drug trafficking as part of his election campaign. Widodo has resisted public and private calls by Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Prime Minister Tony Abbott to pardon the prisoners of their death sentence.
Six convicted traffickers, including five foreigners from Brazil, the Netherlands, Vietnam, Malawi and Nigeria, were executed on Sunday. Brazil and the Netherlands recalled their ambassadors to Indonesia in response.
An unapologetic Widodo has made it clear he wishes to set an example to other would-be drug traffickers in his country. The president has reportedly set a target of executing 20 of Indonesia’s 64 convicted drug traffickers by the end of 2015. The next round of executions is expected to take place within a few weeks.
Widodo has said that Chan and Sukumaran should be executed together.
According to The Guardian Australia, Matthew Goldberg, co-founder of a mercy campaign for the Bali Nine, said: “There are mechanisms for a review, which the legal team is currently contemplating. They will pursue every avenue, Myuran and Andrew’s situation is precarious, but not hopeless.”
It is understood the legal team may introduce evidence of rehabilitation and reform to support a claim for a type of appeal in Indonesia where a case may be reviewed if there is new evidence, according to The Guardian.
TOP IMAGE: Australians Myuran Sukumaran (L) and Andrew Chan (C), members of the so called Bali Nine gang, behind bars in 2010.(SONNY TUMBELAKA/AFP/Getty Images)