But...the moment a drug runner straps on 10kg of heroine and boards a plane, they cease to become human.
So in my mind, this article is a classic study on stupidity and over sensitive diatribe.

oh gee i'll say it Hitler liked to paint water colours, so what.

This sentimentaliy over a criminal drug smuggler is insulting to the families of his victims. Of course he as going to claim redemption. They all do when they get caught. Redemption, real or faked, is not a substitute for a law abiding, decent and honest life. What is done is done. He committed the crime. He paid the Indonesian price. Had he been caught in Australia, he would have been free to return to his vile ways after a derisory jail sentence. There would have been no talk of redemption then, and he would not have a warped cult following - he would have been ignored like any other anti-social criminal.

The real 'kicker' for me in all of this fiasco is the fact that he was in custody for approximately a decade before being actually killed for his crime. That to me smacks of the highest class of sadism imaginable. Crappy system that does a great job of 'rehabilitation' right?? Its like he's being punished twice!

If this is Indonesian justice, then it's a place I will avoid forever... & certainly will not recommend it to anyone I know.
Doesn't matter if he actually did the crime or not, that will probably be a matter of dispute forever due to their lack of judicial transparency & accountability, the fact is he got caught and this is what they do to them...

The canonisation of two convicted drug traffickers continues.

The media and commentariat are milking it for all it is worth and more. They are shameless.

More bottom feeding stuff for the tabloids and their manipulators (and manipulated herd) to come, featuring the alleged attempting trafficking out of China of 30kg of methamphetamine.

If proved, that foiled attempt is a possible one million possible young Australians whose futures were saved, from that threat at least.

Amazingly, in 'Progressive', politically correct Australia, trafficking large quantities of hard drugs that are known to result in serious harm to hundreds of thousands, many being school kids, and death to some, is coming to be regarded in some quarters as a not so very serious offence(!). -Out in ten apparently and 'progressive' opinion might regard them as the victims instead. Society's fault. Ned Kellys, eh, what?

The Chinese authorities who allege they have prevented 30kg of 'ice' arriving in Oz will doubtless be denounced by the feckless Oz media, the commentariat and that protest party as corrupt and so on.
In Oz, the lunatics are in charge of the asylum, or think they are

We the tax payers could only hope repatriation costs for the remains of these scum bags, from Indonesia to Australia, is not borne by us.
If so, maybe a painting or two by Sukumaran could be donated to Canberra to hang beside "Blue Poles" as compensation.

If that garbage is a legacy, god help us. The mind that created the muck must be a terribly dark place.

What I want to know is, who was paying for the battalion of lawyers who kept the constant appeals going for years?

I sure hope it wasn't the Oz taxpayer.

I notice that this is the same scribbler who brought us such gems as "Bouncing back", a story about the artistic merits of semi-naked women in newspapers, "Flicking the bean on screen", on the topic of the artistic merits of masturbation in the movies, "Show us your corpse", on the employment of dead bodies as art, and so on.

She now brings us a story about the artistic "merit" in the work of a prisoner on death row, who takes up painting to pass the time, as if the fact of his impending execution somehow infuses him with talent.

Give me a break.

It's the secular equivalent of "I was a convicted drug smuggler, but now I've found God", and equally specious.

The only praise for his work comes from that daisy-chain of fellow-painters, a bunch of equally talentless drones who may be relied upon to see genius in each others' work where others see none.

(In the author's favour, she does confess in her bio that she "likes to take her academic research to the mass media and to provoke debate." So it is quite possible that she doesn't mean a word of what she says, she's just seeing how well we react to the provocation of a load of mindless drivel.)

Rojama,

Good idea. I wouldn't go to Indonesia either, and I'm not a drug smuggler.

Ever thought that that could be the whole idea of the death penalty? To actually stop the the insidious trade. They don't care whether you or I go there or not; but they are determined to stop drug smugglers and, in doing so, they are helping Australia.

If, as has been suggested, the AFP tipped off the Indonesians about these two criminals, I say good! We all know the paltry penalties they would have received here if they had been allowed home to be dealt with.

As for redemption, why is it that the wet-Left is always saying that jailing does no good in Australia, but that redemption works in 'dreadful' Indonesia. We might as well try to redeem a caged laboratory rat.

As for being 'punished twice'. Boo hoo. This is not their first drug crime, and what about the poor fools who kept them in business? Drug smugglers are guilty of, at least, manslaughter of those who have overdosed.

You wonder after all this time whether "he actually did the crime or not? You seriously think that the televised removal of fat packets of drugs from his person was a set up? That his huge troop of lawyers were dud?

Come on, mate!

The death penalty is one issue and making hero's out of drug smugglers is another.

Hasbeen and others regarding the two deaths, we all would like to know where the money has come from to pay lawyers and all else the expenses of these two, is there
any way of finding out? it definately should not be the taxpayer, we have had enough of the media reporting on these two drug mules, the writer obviously is quite happy for all the killings and damage caused if they had succeeded in their plan to bring their drugs here.
Folks,Women's Day, New Idea, Who and TV stories will make all those relatives living very wealthy, so they no longer need to worry about day to day living expenses. Crime pays for all those who may have been involved, even the family, it has now all gone.

Wonder if Evelyn Tsitas has ever seen a Person Heroin OD
Evelyn go visit one of the Sydney hospitals on a Saturday night
Then comeback and tell us what you think then of these guys poisoning our children, If these pair hadn't been caught there would be no redemption no they would of just done more and more.

London to a brick that you-know-who is going to scoop the Archibald Prize, this year.

The reason why so many artists think that Chan and Sukamaran are martyrs is because so many of them are the customers for Chan's products. Artists are becoming just like pop stars, you are not really famous unless you have a drug habit and OD.