A QUEENSLAND bishop has renewed a demand to bring home the remaining Bali Nine, convicted after smuggling drugs in 2005 and still languishing behind bars in Indonesia.
“I call on the Federal Government to formally request the return of these Australians as it serves no purpose keeping them locked up,” Townsville Bishop Tim Harris, who has a deep pastoral connection with the Bali Nine, said.
“They need to be given another chance for we can never give up on anyone.
“The tragedy is that these Bali Nine survivors have been forgotten and that is unacceptable.
“In their case it seems that it’s easier to simply lock them up and throw away the key. I say let them out and accompany them here.”
Bishop Harris visited Scott Rush and Michael Czugai in Bali’s Kerobokan prison in 2008 and saw the squalid conditions suffered by the young Aussie prisoners.
The pair went to school in Brisbane’s Corinda-Graceville Catholic parish where Bishop Harris was the parish priest.
They were among nine Australians arrested as they attempted to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin home from Bali, and were given life sentences.
Smuggling ringleaders Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan were executed by firing squad.
Bishop Harris knew their families, has supported them through prayer vigils and advocated on their behalf, especially for a period when Rush was on death row, before his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.
“Every day is a struggle for Scott and Michael. I’ve kept abreast of the situation of Scott through messages from his parents,” he said.
“For me, Scott ( and Michael ) should be back home in Australia surrounded by their family and friends.
“Rehabilitation in my view would have a better chance of success out of prison for surely those of the Bali Nine who are still alive have served their time.
“Scott and Michael were not ring leaders but mules who got seduced by money and made a terrible mistake. What they did was a crime but enough is enough.”
Rush’s family will attend a death penalty prayer vigil in Corinda-Graceville’s Christ the King Church on Good Friday, starting at noon.
The vigil has been held each Good Friday since 2008, except for a two year break due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Brisbane Archdiocese’s Justice and Peace Commission executive officer Peter Arndt said Easter Sunday would mark 17 years since Scott Rush was imprisoned.
His family is not permitted to visit him in jail in Indonesia.
