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

Controversial radio and TV personality Derryn Hinch has called celebrities taking part in “I Stand for Mercy” campaign hypocrites. Australian personalities like Missy Higgins, Richard Roxburgh and Germaine Greer plead for the clemency of Bali Nine masterminds Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who are sentenced to death by firing squad in Indonesia.

A growing number of Australian actors, musicians, political commentators and journalists have recorded a video to ask Indonesian President Joko Widodo to spare the lives of Chan and Sukumaran. The duo have recently been denied clemency, and are expected to be executed in Bali for drug smuggling in 2005.

A candlelight vigil and concert will also be held in Sydney on January 29 to support the cause. The “Music for Mercy” will feature a star-studded line-up that includes Rob Hirst of Midnight Oil, Steve Balbi of Noiseworks, Justine Clarke, Emma Louise and The Tambourine Girls.

The campaign has attracted a large number of supporters, but Hinch isn’t one of them.

“I think it’s hypocritical,” Hinch said in his video. He added that he isn’t so set against drug dealers, saying that Schapelle Corby, the Australian woman who spent nine years imprisoned in Bali for smuggling drugs in the country, should have just received six months, while the Bali Nine gang should have got just six years each.

However, those were only possible if they committed their crime in Australia. Chan, Sukumaran and the rest of the Bali Nine took their chances in Indonesia, fully aware that the Asian country enforces capital punishment for drug smugglers.

He called the artists and personalities participating in the “I Stand for Mercy” campaign to be hypocritical because they didn’t call for mercy for the other nationalities who were executed earlier in January in Indonesia. They only wanted clemency for their fellow Aussies and not for everybody who committed the same crime.

If the celebrities participating in the campaign are against death penalty as a whole, then they should also be against the execution of terrorists. Hinch cited the execution of the Bali bombers as an example.

The 2002 Bali bombings attack had killed 202 people, 88 of whom were Australians, in the tourist district of Kuta. Three of the suspects, all of which were members of the Islamist group Jemaah Islamiyah, were sentenced to death and subsequently executed in relation to the crime.

Although Australia did not, and still does not, have death penalty, no one stopped Indonesia from executing the suspects. One man from the Labor party supported clemency for them, but was told off by Kevin Rudd as being insensitive.

“So if you are going to say I stand for mercy, stand for mercy for everybody. If you are against the death penalty, be against it for everybody,” Hinch said. He added that he supports death penalty in Australia, but only for people who commit heinous crimes, such as rapists, child murderers, terrorists, and people who kill police and prison guards.

Mr Widodo recently spoke up about the execution of Chan and Myuran, telling CNN there would “no compromise.” He stands firm in his decision to have the death penalty imposed on drug smugglers.

Watch Hinch’s video here.

RELATED STORIES