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Indonesia’s new president has reportedly approved a deal to transfer the remaining nine drug smugglers from Bali back to Australia.
The Bali Times reported President Prabowo Subianto agreed in principle to continue sending the five remaining members of the group back to their home soil.
“As for the Bali Nine, I emphasize once again, the president agreed in principle with the transfer procedure,” the newspaper quoted the statement of the Minister of Law and Human Rights, Supratman Andi Atgas.
READ MORE: Nine Australians flew to Bali in 2005. Today, three are dead, five are in jail, and only one has returned home.
“While I cannot confirm a specific timeline, the president’s agreement allows us to move forward with preparations.”
The “Bali Nine” was the nickname given to a group of nine Australians who were caught trying to smuggle more than 8.3 kilograms of heroin from Indonesia in 2005.
The group, including Andrew Chan, Myuran Sukumaran, Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush, Martin Stephens and Renae Lawrence, were arrested after the Australian Federal Police tipped off Indonesian authorities.
Chan and Sukumaran were executed in 2015, while the others were sentenced to life imprisonment.
READ MORE: The trial for drug smuggling to a grandmother from Perth in Japan has ended
Lawrence successfully appealed to have her sentence reduced to 20 years and was released after serving 13.
Nguyen developed stomach cancer and died in prison in 2018.
The remaining five members of the Bali Nine are still in prison in Indonesia, although there are hopes they could return to Australia by the end of the year.
However, this may not translate into freedom. Although the details of the deal are not known, Indonesia is expected to ask for the smugglers to continue serving their sentences.
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