The Case Facts
Which year was the Bali Nine arrested?
17 April 2005.
Under what law were all nine tried and convicted?
Indonesia's Narcotics Law.
Which British businessman personally wrote to President Widodo urging clemency?
Richard Branson.
In what month and year were Chan and Sukumaran executed?
April 2015.
What is the territoriality principle, in simple terms?
The idea that a country's laws apply to actions committed within its borders.
Roughly how much heroin, in total, was strapped to the group's bodies?
8.3 kilograms
What legal mechanism reduced Nguyen's life sentence to 20 years?
A judicial appeal.
What did Myuran Sukumaran become known for during his time in Kerobokan prison?
Painting / becoming a well-known artist.
When was Renae Lawrence released, and after roughly how many years in custody?
November 2018, after almost 13 years.
What word describes a country's right to govern itself and make its own laws without outside interference?
Sovereignty.
Who first tipped off the AFP that the group might be planning a drug-related crime?
Lee Rush, father of Scott Rush.
What is the main difference between a judicial appeal and a presidential clemency application?
An appeal is decided by the courts/judges; clemency is decided by the president.
What did Foreign Minister Julie Bishop offer Indonesia in a last attempt to secure clemency?
Repatriating three Indonesian nationals held in Australian prisons.
When did the five remaining members return to Australia?
December 2024.
What do we call factors that might lessen the severity of a criminal sentence?
Mitigating factors.
What detail was used to argue Andrew Chan was an organiser rather than a courier?
He was arrested with no drugs but several mobile phones.
What legal method brought the five remaining members home to Australia in December 2024?
A bilateral prisoner transfer arrangement.
What earlier comment by PM Tony Abbott provoked the Aceh coin-collecting campaign?
Linking Australia's tsunami aid to the case, implying Indonesia owed Australia leniency.
Roughly how many years had the remaining five members spent in Indonesian custody before their return?
About 19 years.
What is procedural fairness?
The principle that legal processes must be fair and follow the proper steps.
Roughly how long had the AFP investigated the group before alerting Indonesian police, and how far ahead of the arrests did that alert come?
About ten weeks of investigation, with the alert to Indonesian police coming about two weeks before the arrests.
What was Australia's consular support legally unable to do for the group, despite heavy lobbying?
It could not intervene in Indonesia's judicial or clemency processes.
Which organisation placed the Bali Nine case within a wider global argument against the death penalty?
The Global Commission on Drug Policy.
What broader diplomatic effect did the 2015 executions have on the Australia-Indonesia relationship?
They sparked a diplomatic rift between the two countries.
Give one example of a "non-legal response" from the case, as opposed to a legal mechanism.
Any of: media coverage, public advocacy (e.g. Branson's letter), diplomatic lobbying, the Aceh coin campaign, or international rights organisations.