"One of the really frustrating and stupid things about this case is that they have become valuable assets for the Indonesian community – they help Indonesians in prison become better people,” their lawyer Julian McMahon told Dateline in February.
“The idea of killing two young men who do that day in and day out is just ridiculous.”
The legal team for the two Bali Nine ringleaders worked tirelessly to get their death penalties reduced, but ultimately they faced the firing squad in the early hours of the morning.
Dateline’s story in February looked at a key part of their case for clemency – their rehabilitation in prison. Chan had become a pastor and Sukumaran was completing a fine arts degree.
In their time behind bars since April 2005, they’d also set up and run a host of rehabilitation programs, teaching inmates valuable skills to help them turn their lives around - a model copied at prisons across the country.
The story also looks back at Dateline’s interviews with them in Kerobokan Prison in 2010, when the program gained unprecedented access to them to hear their stories.
“I never saw myself as, like a bad person or something like that. As I look back at myself now I see I was stupid back then, but I never thought of myself as a bad person,” Sukumaran told Dateline.
He showed his artwork and Chan spoke about becoming a pastor.
“It made me look at maybe one day I won't get up… so it's put me on a different angle to look at things differently,” Chan said. “Probably to cherish life a lot more than what I did.”
Watch the full story above, and follow the latest coverage and reaction with SBS World News:
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Credits
- Narrator: Anton Enus Follow @antonenus
- Producer: Catherine Scott Follow @cathyscott27
- Editor: Simon Phegan
