MORE than 1500 people have signed a petition calling on the Australian Government to press Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to provide clemency to Queenslander Scott Rush and five other members of the Bali Nine facing the death penalty in Indonesia.
Scott Rush’s family in Brisbane delivered the petition to their federal member of parliament, Gary Hardgrave, who tabled the petition in the House of Representatives last week.
Scott Rush’s father, Lee, said the petition was timed to coincide with the constitutional challenge by his son’s Indonesian lawyers into the validity of the death penalty imposed on Scott last year.
Five other members of the Bali Nine are also facing death by either firing squad or lethal injection.
Mr Rush said the petition did not condone people involved in the drug trade but called on the Australian Government to highlight to Indonesia the disproportionate nature of the sentence facing the condemned Australians.
Scott Rush and eight other Australians were arrested in Bali by Indonesian authorities on drug charges in April 2005, following a tip-off from the Australian Federal Police.
