How rude some people are by calling the author by another name.
How about an article written by you nameless people that we could all judge?

Sophie, I liked your thoughtful article.
I think most people have opinions about the Bali men on death row, but I can't imagine how many would think that something positive could come out of their execution.

My personal opinion of their supposedly saintly 10 years in the Bali Jail so far is that most people seem to 'find' a god or two suddenly, if they thought that becoming a pastor may save them from the firing squad.
Or maybe they might suddenly develop a talent at painting, and then try to 'save' other inmates by teaching them to paint.

I don't blame them, I would consider becoming a nun if I could avoid a firing squad.

At the end of the day, I don't agree with killing others to atone for them murdering someone else, let alone for smuggling drugs.
That sort of law sends mixed messages to society.

As for the war in Iraq against the ISIL militants, I would understand it more if our Government sent our army to assist those people in Africa who are tormented by Muslim extremists too, but they don't......because there is no oil in Africa.

Maybe I am just a cynic.....

You make my stomach turn, unworthy is the weakness of mind who would vouchsafe such moral relativism.

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Dear Sophie (the author),

.

You wrote :

« Like most Australians, I am implacably opposed to the death penalty »

You did not indicate your source on that, Sophie. “ Most Australians” may not be quite so “implacably opposed to the death penalty” as you seem to imagine.

According to an Australian SMS Morgan poll, when asked "If a person is convicted of a terrorist act in Australia which kills someone, should the penalty be death?" 52.5% of respondents favoured use of the death penalty in such cases while 47.5% did not favour its use. (Roy Morgan Research, September 19, 2014).

As regards Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, neither could possibly have ignored that he was risking his life by drug trafficking in Indonesia. Each clearly accepted to take that risk.

Indonesia is a sovereign country and the world’s largest Islamic democracy. Australian law does not apply in Indonesia. It is Indonesian law which applies.

In the case of the Bali Nine Indonesia has committed no wrong. The Bali Nine are guilty of drug trafficking. That is a wrong. The Australian Federal Police (AFP) committed a wrong in denouncing the Bali Nine to the Indonesian National Police (INP), knowing that the death penalty applies to drug trafficking in Indonesia. That contravenes Australia’s commitment to the abolition of the death penalty.

Instead of denouncing the Bali Nine to the INP, the AFP should have waited for their return to Australia in order to arrest them and have them tried under Australian law.

The AFP has knowingly and deliberately put the life of two Australian citizens in jeopardy. All the wrongdoing is Australian, not Indonesian.

I suggest you read the excellent article on this subject by Ronli Sifris, BA LLB (Hons) (Monash University); LLM (New York University) :

http://flr.law.anu.edu.au/sites/flr.anulaw.anu.edu.au/files/flr/Sifris.pdf

More broadly, Sophie, on the question of life and death, perhaps you might like to read the following article (It opens as a PDF document) :

http://www.google.fr/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CC8QFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aph.gov.au%2FDocumentStore.ashx%3Fid%3Dc1447c7d-6904-4d9e-a7d6-a67edd6fb115%26subId%3D300148&ei=0fL2VOHGMMrzat25gLgO&usg=AFQjCNGFEgm86rD84Z5IQxCtmCDeD0GZ6g&bvm=bv.87519884,d.d24

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it seems that this govt is very selective in its morality: it opposes the death penalty, but that doesn't seem to apply to the unborn, so it seems a bit hypocritical of the govt to get on its high horse and start lecturing others about the virtues of non-violence and the use of capital punishment.

Don't want soldiers to die in Iraq, then stop being an enabler of Islamo-Violence to foster a bloated sense of self-worth. Comparing them with the death sentence of two drug king-pins is is a very low, confused version "O makin’ mock o’ uniforms that guard you while you sleep".

Most soldiers know exactly why they are there, the reason is simple as they do not have the mental incapacity induced by getting a Bugger All of some "... Studies" course. Admittedly I cannot directly comment on the latest generation of Diggers but can on earlier.