Artist Ben Quilty makes plea for Bali pair

With the Music for Mercy vigil to take place in Sydney, organiser Ben Quilty wants to show support for the two young men who face execution in Bali.

Music for Mercy vigil members

Celebrities and musicians are getting together for a vigil for Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan. (AAP)

Celebrities and musicians are getting together for a candlelight vigil for Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan in Sydney, as hopes fade for the men on death row in Indonesia.

The Bali Nine ringleaders, who were jailed for trying to smuggle heroin worth about $4 million into Australia, have been on death row in Kerobokan jail since 2006.

But it seems inevitable they will face the firing squad after being denied presidential clemency.

The men's families and friends visited them on Monday.

Musicians, celebrities and supporters are gathering in Sydney on Thursday night for the Music for Mercy vigil to plea for a stay of execution.

Archibald Prize-winning Australian artist Ben Quilty, who has got to know the men in recent years, says the vigil is being held to send a message.

He says Sukumaran, 33, and Chan, 31 have been rehabilitated and are not the same men they once were.

Actor David Wenham expects the vigil to be an uplifting community event.

"While there's still time, there's also a potential sliver of hope," Wenham said on Wednesday.

But Indonesian President Joko Widodo was unequivocal when he spoke to CNN on Tuesday.

Mr Joko said he would make "no compromise" on sending condemned drug dealers to the firing squad.

But Quilty has seen a more personal side of the Australians and has witnessed their transformation.

The artist tutored Sukumaran in Bali's Kerobokan prison, and says he is one of the best students he's ever had.

He now counts him as a friend.

Quilty feels Sukumaran and Chan weren't that different when they were imprisoned to how he once was.

"They made stupid, self-indulgent mistakes, but so did I," Quilty said.

"I put my parents through hell. I was arrested, I abused drugs and alcohol," he said.

I Stand for Mercy campaign organiser, Brigid Delaney, said the online petition appealing to Mr Joko for clemency had gathered almost 100,000 signatures.

More than 20 Australian celebrities, including Alan Jones, Germaine Greer and Bryan Brown, have also appeared in a video calling for mercy.

However, not all celebrities are on board with the campaign.

TV and radio personality, Derryn Hinch, said the celebrities involved are hypocritical for only opposing the death penalty when it's used against Australians.

"If you're against the death penalty be against it for everybody," Hinch said.


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