A prayer vigil will be held in Adelaide’s St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral on Tuesday for Bali Nine pair Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan.
The vigil will follow the nightly mass at 5.45pm and continue until early Wednesday morning. It will also be dedicated to those thousands who have died in the Nepal earthquake.
“This prayer vigil is for Myuran and Andrew but also for all facing execution or death by human hands and for those who die seeking refuge or as a result of natural disaster,” Adelaide Catholic Vicar General Philip Marshall says.
Sukumaran and Chan could be executed by an Indonesian firing squad as early as midnight tonight.
A leading Indonesian law expert believes Australia needs to do more than condemn Indonesia if the executions go ahead.
The Bali Nine ringleaders could face a firing squad as early as midnight on Tuesday.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has declined to speculate about Australia’s response to their execution, instead focusing on last-ditch efforts to save the pair.
David McRae from the University of Melbourne, says Australia must make clear there is a cost to the executions and suspend co-operation in certain areas.
Making future law enforcement co-operation contingent on the death penalty not applying was one measure.
“Australia has to do more than simply express condemnation,” McRae told ABC radio on Tuesday.
Otherwise there was a risk future advocacy would be seen as bluster.
Bishop has again called on the Indonesian government to delay the executions until the Constitutional Court hears an application by Chan and Sukumaran on May 12.
But the court has no powers to alter death sentences.
A candlelight vigil on the Sydney Harbour foreshore last night called for mercy for Chan and Sukumaran. AFP photo
Lawyers acting for Chan and Sukumaran are also pushing the Judicial Commission to investigate outstanding corruption allegations against the judges who sentenced the pair.
It has been alleged the judges sought more than $A130,000 in bribes to hand the men prison terms of less than 20 years.
Indonesia has yet to announce a time for the executions but families have been told to say their last goodbyes by 2pm on Tuesday (5pm AEST).
There are reports the executions will carried out on Nusakambangan island, Central Java, after midnight.
In Paris, Prime Minister Tony Abbott and French President Francois Hollande jointly deplored the impending executions of their citizens.
A group of celebrities, which include actors Geoffrey Rush, Joel Edgerton and Guy Pearce, have taken aim at Abbott for not going to Jakarta to plead the pair’s case.
“Clearly, if travelling to Indonesia would make a difference, we would have gone there,” Bishop said.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said nothing would be gained by executing two men who were a “stand-out example” of rehabilitation.
“This is murdering two people who really, it would seem, that these are not the same people who did the wrong thing,” he told 3AW Radio on Tuesday.
