The scholarships will provide full tuition fees to the student's chosen course over four years and be awarded to those who write an essay based on the theme of "the sanctity of human life". Continue reading

Gularte suffered from schizophrenia and he also had a bipolar disorder.

"I was joking with him, saying that 'I am 72; I will be up there with you soon enough," said Father Charles Burrows.

He said Gularte was calm as he was handcuffed by warders but became agitated when he was handed over to police outside the jail who put leg chains on him.

"I thought he'd got the message he was to be executed but … when the chains started to go on, he said to me, 'Oh father, am I being executed?'," Burrows said.

Gularte continued to hear voices in his final days telling him everything would be fine. "He believes the voices more than he does anybody else," Burrows said.

Gularte was one of eight men who were executed in Indonesia shortly after midnight on April 29.

He was caught entering Indonesia in 2004 with six kilograms of cocaine hidden in surf boards, and was sentenced to death in 2005.

The condemned sang Amazing Grace together as flashlights shone on targets pinned to their hearts.

"We were in a tent nearby, also singing hymns," Burrows said. "Unlike previous executions, they died relatively quickly."

Burrows had also been assigned as a counselor to Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira, 53, the Brazilian who was executed in the January round of shootings.

But the he never got onto Nusa Kambangan to be with the condemned man for his final hours.

"I rang them [Indonesian officials] about 20 times that day, but they didn't call me back," he recalled, describing the alleged bureaucratic fumble.

"Marco was crying alone in the cell, asking, 'Where is my father; where is my father?'"

Source

• National Catholic Register
• EuroNews
• Image EuroNews

In an interview on Radio Australia he said that he hoped that the circumstances surrounding the executions in Indonesia will bring "more light to our into our leadership."

In 2013 Ribat spoke about the church's opposition to the death penalty at a press conference in Port Moresby.

He acknowledged the immense pressure on the Government to curb law and order problems and its moves to introduce maximum penalties to crack down on the country's serious law and order problems.

Speaking on behalf of the other churches, he said the church would live by its principles.

"No life will be taken. We do not have the right to do that but we do have the right to better a person's life," the Archbishop said.

Ribat said there was moral breakdown in PNG society and called on the Government to work with churches to address the serious law and order problems by properly funding and strengthening the law enforcing systems from the top right down to the local level governments and get perpetrators to answer for their crimes.

He said the judicial system needed to be strong and firm in addressing serious law and orders problems.

Bishop Aronold Orowae, the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, has issued a letter laying out the reasons behind the Bishops' opposition to the re introduction of the death penalty.

Capital punishment has not been carried out in PNG for more than 50 years, but was re-activated two years ago when the law was amended to include more offences.

Since then, 13 people have been waiting on death row, but lack of infrastructure has meant there has been no method to enact the capital punishment.

Both Indonesia and Thailand have made offers of financial assistance and expertise.

Source

• Radio Australia International
• Island Business
• asopa.typepad.com
• Image: abc.net.au

There are dozens more prisoners on death row and the government has declared there will be no mercy for those convicted of drug offences, meaning more executions are likely.

The Guardian has spoken to a police officer who has been part of the firing squad which operates on the prison island, Nusa Kambangan.

His story is one that reveals the grim reality of Indonesia's justice system but also the conflicting emotions of those responsible for upholding it.

Pulling the trigger is the easy part, the officer says as he contemplates the executions which are to come.

The worst part is the human touch, he says, the connection with those who are about to die.

The executioner has to lace the prisoner's limbs, hands and feet to a cross-shaped pole with thick rope. It is that final moment of brutal intimacy that haunts.

"The mental burden is heavier for the officers that are responsible for handling the prisoners rather than shooting them," he says. "Because those officers are involved in picking them up, and tying their hands together, until they are gone."

The officer - a young man who wanted to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of his role - is part of a wing of the Indonesian police corps known as the Mobile Brigade ("Brimob").

The brigade carries out the executions on top of its regular duties. They are not full-time executioners but rather special police officers assigned to the job.

They are paid less than $100 on top of their existing salary to carry out their grim task. Continue reading

Sources

• The Guardian
• Image: New Vision

Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira was executed on January 18, the last of five drug felons shot by firing squads on Nusakambangan, Indonesia's execution island.

The horrific last minutes of Moreira's life were relayed to Fairfax Media by Cilacap priest Father Charles Burrows, who was supposed to be called upon to comfort the man.

Cilacap is a town located within sight of Nusakambangan Island.

"He had to be dragged from his cell crying and saying 'help me'," said Burrows.

"He actually excremented in his trousers."

The guards hosed him down but he continued to weep "all the time up to his last minutes".

The priest said that, though the wardens were very polite, the attorney did not give him a letter to get on to the island to comfort the man even after he had kept telling them he wanted to be there.

"Usually there is a time when the minister or spiritual director gets to go forward to console them."

"Nobody consoled Marco."

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, two Australian drug convicts, are due to face the firing squad in Indonesia.

The executions have once more been put on hold until An Indonesian court hears an appeal is heard on Thursday against president Joko Widodo's refusal to grant them clemency.

Source

• smh.com.au
• au.ibtimes.com
• Image: bbcimg.co.uk

Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney and the Grand Mufti of Australia, Ibrahim Abu Mohammed, issued a joint statement on February 8.

The religious leaders said they respected Indonesia's laws, but believe Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are reformed men who deserve another chance.

The leaders' statement has been sent to the men's families and the Australian and Indonesian governments.

But Indonesia's ambassador to Australia all but dashed any hopes of a last minute reprieve for the Bali Nine ringleaders, saying their legal options to escape the death penalty are exhausted.

Chan and Sukumaran face execution this month over their role in a failed attempt to export 8.2 kilograms of heroin to Australia in 2005.

Continue reading