Who Is Myuran Sukumaran? Bali Nine Drug Dealer's Clemency Plea Rejected By Indonesian President

Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo rejected Australian drug dealer Myuran Sukumaran's clemency plea on Wednesday, media reports said. Sukumaran, who was one of the Australian drug dealers from the Bali Nine group, was on death row in Indonesia for trying to import drugs to Australia.

The plea, which was Sukumaran's final bid to receive a pardon from the death sentence, was applied over two years ago. The copy of the denied clemency plea, which was reportedly signed by Widodo on Dec. 30, was delivered to the Denpasar district court and the prosecutions service on Wednesday, The West Australian, a local newspaper, reported. There were no updates on the clemency plea applied by Andrew Chan, another Australian member from the Bali Nine group, who has been on death row since 2006 along with Sukumaran.

The text of the letter, submitted to the district court, said that there is "not enough reason" for the clemency bid to be accepted and makes clear that "the decision is in effect on the day it is decided," Sydney Morning Herald reported. It was not clear whether the duo will apply for a judicial review of the case.

The Indonesian president had earlier said that he wanted all the 64 drug smugglers on death row to be executed. He had also declared last year that he was determined to execute six convicts before the new year, but the move was delayed after some of the convicts applied for judicial reviews. Sukumaran and Chan are not in the list of the six convicts that Widodo mentioned, but it is not clear if they are in the 20 that the president plans to execute in the medium term, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The duo had made the clemency plea based on their rehabilitation efforts since they were locked up in the Kerobokan prison in 2005. Sukumaran runs a computer lab inside the prison and has a t-shirt printing room, which has generated revenues for the prison facility, the Sydney Morning Herald reported. Chan is deeply involved with the Church’s affairs.

Members of the Bali Nine group had allegedly tried to import 8.2 kg (18 pounds) heroin from Bali to Australia in 2005. A firing squad had sentenced them to death in 2006. Six other members are currently serving life sentences while the only woman in the gang was sentenced to 20 years in jail, Courier Mail, an Australian newspaper reported.