IN PHOTO: Australian Andrew Chan (L) and Myuran Sukumaran wait in a temporary cell for their appeal hearing in Denpasar District Court in Indonesia's resort island of Bali September 21, 2010.
IN PHOTO: Australian Andrew Chan (L) and Myuran Sukumaran wait in a temporary cell for their appeal hearing in Denpasar District Court in Indonesia's resort island of Bali September 21, 2010. They are members of a group known as the Bali Nine, arrested in April 2005 in Bali with 8.3 kg (18 lb) of heroin strapped to their bodies. Chan and Sukumaran were sentenced to death in 2006. They requested for a judicial review for their death sentence to be reduced to 20 years jail. REUTERS/Murdani Usman

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran could be facing the firing squad in three days’ time. The Bali Nine ringleaders were given official 72-hour notice of the impending execution on Saturday.

It’s a grim news for the doomed Australian pair as any hope of having their death sentence crushed or even just delayed vanished. Their legal team has been rushing their request for another judicial review in a bid to stay the execution as long as possible. This hope was destroyed on Saturday when Chan, 31, and Sukumaran, 34, received the official notification.

The Australians could be meeting their bleak fate after three days. However, Attorney-General spokesman Tony Spontana said the execution could be held even after 72 hours because no date has been set yet. Three days is only the earliest time the men could be executed.

The news came a couple of days after the Indonesian government has issued letters ordering prosecutors to begin preparations for the executions. The only female of the batch, Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso, a Philippine citizen, was also transferred to Nusakambangan Island on Thursday. Officials previously said Veloso would only be transferred to the “Death Island” soon before the killing since the island only accommodates male prisoners.

Australian, Brazilian, Nigerian and Philippine embassies representing the death row prisoners are also now in Cilicap, the town near Nusakambangan, a clear indication that the execution is imminent. They were set to be ten prisoners facing the firing squad for the current batch, but Frenchman Serge Atlaoui has been given reprieve because he still has a case before the administrative court.

Bali Nine Member Reacts

In 2005, there were nine Australians who were arrested in Bali for attempting to smuggle 8.3 kg of heroin to Australia. Chan and Sukumaran were determined by the court to be the ringleaders of the group, but there were seven others who also faced a bleak fate. They were Si Yi Chen, Michael Czugaj, Renae Lawrence, Matthew Norman, Scott Rush, Martin Stephens and Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen.

Rush and Stephens have previously broken their silence over Chan and Sukumaran’s impending death. Rush, whose father Lee was instrumental in the capture of the group, said he was praying for the duo, while Stephens believed it was more humane if the government would also give him the same capital punishment instead of letting him rot in prison. Rush and Stephens were both sentenced to life imprisonment, which has no possibility of parole under the Indonesian law.

For Nguyen, he had no words to describe the seemingly unstoppable event. “Speechless. Really, really, really sad,” he told Fairfax Media.

Nguyen, who was arrested at just 22, is incarcerated in Malang prison in East Java with Stephens. He launched an online appeal, asking people to donate so he could pay for his fifth legal challenge.

“Am I guilty? Yes. Am I sorry? More than anyone will ever know,” he wrote on the My Cause page. “My family have used their life saving to pay my legal bills. They are still paying those debts now.”

He has so far raised $3,110 since March from 47 contributors. His goal is $20,000.

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