Australians jailed in Indonesia ‘relieved’ to be home

The five remaining members of the infamous “Bali Nine” drug ring say they are “relieved and happy” to be home in Australia, after serving almost 20 years in Indonesian prisons.

Matthew Norman, Scott Rush, Martin Stephens, Si Yi Chen and Michael Czugaj returned to the country on Sunday after years of lobbying by Australia on their behalf.

“They hope, in time, to reintegrate and contribute to society,” said a statement issued on behalf of the men and their families.

The high-profile case began in 2005, when Indonesia caught nine young Australians trying to smuggle 8.3kg (18lb) of heroin from Bali strapped to their bodies.

The eight men and one woman were arrested at an airport and hotel in Bali after a tip-off from Australian police.

The case made headlines around the world when two of the gang’s leaders, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed by firing squad in 2015, sparking a diplomatic row between neighboring Indonesia and Australia.

Other members of the Bali Nine, most of whom were under 21, were sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.

The case highlighted Indonesia’s strict anti-drug laws, some of the strictest in the world.

One of the nine, Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen, died of cancer in prison in 2018. Shortly after, Renae Lawrence, then 41, the only woman in the group, had her sentence commuted after spending almost 13 years in prison and returned to Australia the same year.

Indonesia did not commute the sentences of the remaining five, who are now aged between 38 and 48, and they were transported back to Australia as prisoners. However, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) has reported that men are effectively free to live unhindered in Australian society.

The five are banned for life from entering Indonesia, a government spokesman said in a statement.

On Monday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he had spoken to several of the men’s “grateful” parents.

“They committed a serious crime and rightly paid a high price for it. But it was time for them to come home,” he told reporters.

He said the deal included no conditions or favors that Australia had to return: “This is an act of compassion from President Prabowo (Subianto) and we thank him for it.”

The men and their families also said they were “immensely grateful” to Prabowo.

They also thanked the lawyers, diplomats and government figures who had helped defend them over the past two decades, before asking for privacy.

“The well-being of men is a priority, they will need time and support, and we hope and trust that our media and our community will take this into account.”

The five men were undergoing medical checks at the Howard Springs facility in Darwin, which was used for quarantine during the pandemic, and will then begin a voluntary “rehabilitation process”, Education Minister Jason Clare said. It is unclear what this entails or how long the men will remain there.

“When you’ve been in prison for almost two decades, it will take some time for these men to rehabilitate and reintegrate into Australian society,” Clare told the ABC.

He added that normal visa processes would apply to any Indonesian relatives of the men who did not follow them to Australia.