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TONY JONES: Well, after praying to their respective gods, three judges in a Denpasar courtroom have today ordered that the two ringleaders of the Bali nine be executed by firing squad. Twenty-two-year-old Andrew Chan and twenty-year-old Myuran Sukumaran received their verdicts in polite silence, while anti-drugs campaigners cheered from the back of the room. In the court next door, two of the drug mules - Michael Czugaj and Martin Stephens - were each sentenced to life in prison for their part in the operation. From Denpasar, Geoff Thompson reports.
GEOFF THOMPSON: From the start, it was a desperate scene. A dangerous media scrum enveloped in angry Myuran Sukamaran, handcuffed to his fellow Bali Nine ringleader, Andrew Chan. Once inside his cell, the normally cool Sukamaran lashed out at photographers. Then with the support of relatives, the four accused composed themselves to hear, perhaps, the worst news of their lives. Twenty-year-old drug mule Michael Czugaj was the first to be whisked away. But all eyes were on Andrew Chan, who followed soon after. For over an hour, he sat calmly in court, as Judge Arif Supratman spelt out the reasons for his guilt. He also said Chan was not straight forward in his evidence and showed no remorse. When the death sentence came, Andrew Chan remained calm and polite as he thanked his lawyer, Mohamad Rifan.
MOHAMAD RIFAN, LAWYER: We were advised to make an appeal for our client.
REPORTER: You will advise him to appeal?
MOHAMAD RIFAN: Yeah.
GEOFF THOMPSON: Next door, Michael Czugaj heard what by now seemed inevitable to him and his mother - a sentence of life imprisonment. So, too, for Martin Stephens. His punishment as predictable as the Bali heat. But his mother, Michelle, remained optimistic.
MICHELLE STEPHENS, MOTHER: It's not over yet. This is only one decision, sort of thing. We will think on it, work out what we are doing. As you saw, Martin is in good spirits. We were both in good spirits. We were both realistic about what might happen.
GEOFF THOMPSON: Now sitting in Andrew Chan's chair, Myuran Sukamaran had no reason to believe he would escape the court's ultimate penalty. His blinking expression, the only indication of the way he felt inside. Told that he was a drug-smuggling organiser with no remorse or cooperation to offer, Sukamaran could only wait for the word mati, Indonesian for death. The Australian Government says it will do what it can to get that decision changed.
JOHN HOWARD, PRIME MINISTER: I feel desperately sorry for the parents of these people. I do. All of us as parents will feel that way, but the warnings have been there for decades.
GEOFF THOMPSON: The Foreign Minister says that good behaviour in prison could mean that life doesn't mean life.
ALEXANDER DOWNER, FOREIGN MINISTER: After five years of a life sentence, a prisoner who has shown good behaviour can apply for the sentence to be changed to a fixed-term sentence, and if that's granted the longest term the prisoner can be required to serve is a further 15 years.
GEOFF THOMPSON: The drug smugglers were led back to prison, two facing life and two facing death. Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukamaran now have one week to decide whether they will appeal to the Bali High Court. While they may have nothing the lose, an appeal by Martin Stephens and Michael Czugaj could see their life sentences increased to death, as has happened before in Bali. Tomorrow, we will also learn the fate for the last three among the Bali nine - Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, Si Yi Chen and Matthew Norman. Geoff Thompson, Lateline.
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