AUSTRALIAN FOUNDING PRESIDENT : THE RT. HON . SIR OWEN DIXON PC, OM, GCMG PRESIDENT : THE HON . JUSTICE LEX LASRY INTERNATIONAL VICE -PRESIDENTS : HON . JUSTICE ELIZABETH HOLLINGWORTH HON . JUDGE MARK TAFT COMMISSION OF JURISTS CHAIR : GLENN MCGOWAN SC -VICTORIA - SECRETARY -GENERAL : MELANIE SZYDZIK Tel: 9225 8414 Fax: 9670 7086 ASSISTANT SECRETARY -GENERAL : [email protected] PHILLIPA MCCORMACK TREASURER : C/- List A, 205 William St MEDIA RELEASE SARA LAW Melbourne 3000 Sunday 19 June 2011 www.vic.icj-aust.org.au BALI NINE DESERVE HELP, SAYS AUSTRALIAN JUDGE The rejection of Andrew Chan’s final appeal on Friday means that this Australian will be executed in Indonesia unless presidential clemency is exercised. The Australian Government has said it will help Chan apply for clemency. The Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, has publicly said many times he is disinclined to exercise clemency in drug cases. President of the International Commission of Jurists in Victoria, Justice Lex Lasry, stated: “The very idea that a Government of any country could imagine that the premeditated killing of a reformed prisoner was civilised, appropriate or in any way proportionate to the offender’s wrong doing still amazes me. The Australian Government must use every aspect of its influence with Indonesia to prevent this young man from being executed. I would also assume and hope that such a position will be strongly bipartisan." Justice Lasry continued “all civilized countries should recognise and comply with Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which gives everyone the right to life. This is the most fundamental human right there is. Australia should do all it can to encourage other nations to adopt and comply with Article 3, and avoid the death penalty being imposed." His Honour stated "Australia should do all it can to protect its own citizens from the death penalty, and should work at the highest political level, including the Prime Minister, to have the death penalty taken off the table for these young Australians.” Fellow Bali Nine Australians Scott Rush’s sentence was commuted to life last month but the fate of Myuran Sukumaran remains unknown. Glenn McGowan SC Chair ICJ Victoria 9225 8449 _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ THE INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF JURISTS, FOUNDED IN BERLIN IN 1952, IS AN INTERNATIONAL NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION, DEDICATED TO THE DEFENCE OF JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS THROUGH THE RULE OF LAW, WITH CONSULTATIVE STATUS TO THE UNITED NATIONS, UNESCO, THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE AND THE ORGANIZATION OF AFRICAN UNITY. IT HAS 82 AUTONOMOUS NATIONAL SECTIONS AND AFFILIATED LEGAL ORGANIZATIONS IN 62 COUNTRIES. ITS HEADQUARTERS ARE IN GENEVA, SWITZERLAND. ITS CENTRE FOR THE INDEPENDENCE OF JUDGES AND LAWYERS WAS FOUNDED IN 1978. AWARDED THE FIRST EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS PRIZE (1980), THE WATELER PEACE PRIZE (1984), THE ERASMUS PRIZE (1989) AND THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD (1993). THE AUSTRALIAN SECTION OF THE ICJ WAS FOUNDED IN 1958 BY EMINENT JURISTS INCLUDING VICTORIANS SIR OWEN DIXON (CHIEF JUSTICE OF AUSTRALIA), EUGENE GORMAN QC, MAURICE ASHKANASY QC, RICHARD EGGLESTON QC & KEITH AICKIN QC. MEMBERSHIP IS OPEN TO ALL LAWYERS SUBSCRIBING TO ITS TENETS. .