Bali Nine Drug Smugglers, 8 Others Executed by Firing Squad in Indonesia; Filipina Spared

Australian Bali Nine smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed by a firing squad in Indonesia along with six other drug convicts after midnight local time on Tuesday. 

Filipina convict Mary Jane Veloso was given a last-minute reprieve, The Jakarta Post has reported. 

"We've carried out the executions," an Attorney General's Office (AGO) official was quoted saying by the newspaper. 

The executions were carried out after days of emotional appeals to the Indonesian President Joko Widodo to spare the lives of the death-row convicts. 

Veloso won a reprieve after a person who allegedly duped the Filipina into smuggling the drugs handed herself over to the police, The Jakarta Post said.

Veloso had been arrested after she was found with 2.6kg of heroin in 2010. 

The convicts were moved out of their cells to the execution sites at about midnight. Apart from the two Australians, the other death row convicts included four Nigerians, one Brazil national, and an Indonesian.

In the firing squad execution in Indonesia, the convict is brought to an isolated area, and 12 trained executioners take aim at the convict's heart, but only three guns are said to be loaded with live ammunition. The shots are fired at the distance of five to ten meters. 

The executions were carried out at the infamous Nusa Kambangan prison island in central Java.

Weeping relatives and friends had met the convicts for the last time on Tuesday. 

The Australian government had made several diplomatic attempts to get Indonesia to spare Chan and Sukumaran.  

Indonesia however stood firm on its decision despite increasing international pressure and outcry. 

"We have explained that we're not against them (personally). What we fight is the serious crime of drugs," Indonesian attorney-general HM Prasetyo had said before the executions.