• 2 days ago
Mick Tsikas' award-winning photographs tell the story of the Bali Nine. Video by AAP
Transcript
00:00I was blown away. They were just kids. They were 19-year-old kids.
00:04They obviously did something stupid, but they were way over their heads of what they've done.
00:11They didn't have a clue what was going to happen to them.
00:14Shocked. It was the first time I heard anyone being sentenced to death.
00:19And that young, seeing someone that young, it really resonated with me. I really felt it.
00:25I felt sorry for them. From the moment I saw them, I felt sorry for them.
00:29They were young kids that made a mistake. Did they deserve 20 years?
00:34In Australia, they would have gotten 5 to 10 years. Here, they get death.
00:41They knew the price, but as young kids, you're bulletproof. Ten foot tall and bulletproof.
00:47It was a crazy time. They were executed in the middle of the morning, 2 o'clock in the morning.
00:55I'd been up for 24 hours at least, waiting for all this to happen, with no sleep.
01:01Do you remember when the news came that it was done?
01:04Yes. There was a radio report. They go, it's done.
01:07We're waiting for the barges to come across with the bodies.
01:10You didn't hear it. We couldn't hear the shots.
01:14They've lost half their life in a Bali prison, and now they're going to come to another prison.
01:21I think it would be bittersweet. They'll be happy they're home,
01:24but they've been calling Bali for 20 years they're home.
01:27Say Michael Shugai was 19. He's 40 now, so he spent 20 years in a Bali prison rather than Australia.
01:38He spent longer in Bali or Indonesia than he has in Australia.
01:41I'd say it would be bittersweet.
01:43This is what I want to walk away with. The first one is Renee Lawrence.
01:48That's when she finds out at that moment that they're seeking the death penalty for her.
01:53She got life, and then it got cut down to 20 years.
01:56The next photo is Scott Rush kissing his mother through the bars.
02:00The third photo just shows you how young they are in that cell with the bars going across their faces.
02:07It's Michael Shugai and Scott Rush, and they look like kids.
02:12Michael Shugai being met by his parents on that Tuesday for the first time,
02:16holding each other, crying. It was so emotional.
02:20Matthew Norman trying to hide away from the media in those holding cells.
02:24Then the next photo, the man in blue, is Andrew Chan.
02:28That's the first time we see him because he's kept off premises,
02:30and they bring him in for questioning.
02:32So he's handcuffed trying to hide his face.
02:35The next photo you see Andrew Chan on his own being arraigned or in court,
02:40and you can see off to the left-hand side is the judges.
02:45Then you can see this is Renee Lawrence, and she's holding her head, trying to cover her face.
02:51It was totally sad.
02:53The next photo is incredibly powerful.
02:55This is the moment where Andrew Chan's been told he's been given death.
03:00The word is marti in Bahasa.
03:04So marti means death.
03:06So as soon as the judge said marti, his translator leans over, whispers in his ear, death.
03:13In the back, you can see the journos on the right-hand side.
03:15In the middle, you can see a man punching the air.
03:18He was an anti-drugs advocate.
03:20On the left-hand side, you can see Chan's brother, Andrew Chan, and he's shattered.
03:25That was the end. I was finished with the job.
03:29Ten years later, in 2015, I get sent back again for the executions.
03:34The last photo you see is one of the bodies.
03:37I'm not sure who it is, Sukumaran or Chan.
03:41They've been put in an airport warehouse, and this is how it ends.

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