Coffins arrive as Indonesia executions believed to be imminent

Ambulances carrying coffins have arrived at a prison island and relatives paid final visits to their condemned loved ones in a sign Indonesia will imminently execute eight foreigners and one Indonesian man, despite an international outcry and pleas for mercy.

A paper printed with the name of Filipino woman on death row for drug offenses Mary Jane Veloso is put on the dashboard of a police ambulance carrying empty coffin, upon arrival to cross to the prison island of Nusakambangan, at Wijayapura Port in Cilacap, Central Java, Indonesia. Image by (AP Photo/Wagino)

The nine inmates, all convicted on drug charges, were given 72-hour notices over the weekend that they would be executed by a firing squad, prompting a flurry of last-minute lobbying by foreign leaders.

The United Nations has argued that the inmates’ crimes are not egregious enough to warrant the ultimate punishment.

Indonesia has not confirmed exactly when the executions will take place. But the arrival of coffins and visits by families, along with Indonesia’s usual execution protocol, suggest the inmates will be shot by the firing squad shortly after midnight local time.

Among the condemned are two Australians – Myuran Sukumaran, 33, and Andrew Chan, 31 – whose emotional families made what could be their last visit to Besi prison on Nusakambangan island, where the prisoners are scheduled to die.

Brintha Sukumaran, center, sisters of Myuran Sukumaran, an Australian on death row, cries upon arrival at Wijayapura ferry port to cross to the prison island of Nusakambangan, in Cilacap, Central Java, Indonesia. Image by (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

Sukumaran’s sister, Brintha, wailed in agony and had to be carried through a crowd of media waiting at the ferry port to the island.

Chan received a visit from Febyanti Herewila, an Indonesian Christian pastor who became his wife in a marriage ceremony on the island yesterday.

A dozen ambulances, nine carrying coffins, were driven onto the ferry to Nusakambangan. On the dashboard of one ambulance was a piece of paper bearing the name of Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipino woman who is among those scheduled to die.

Michael Chan, left, and Chintu Sukumaran, brothers of Australian death row prisoners Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, carry a self-portrait drawn by Sukumaran after visiting the prison island of Nusakambangan to meet their brothers at Wijayapura port in Cilacap, Central Java, Indonesia. Image by (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

Over the weekend, authorities asked the nine inmates – the two Australians and Veloso, as well as four Nigerian men and one man each from Brazil and Indonesia – for their last wishes and gave them a 72-hour notice of their executions.

Today, Australia’s foreign minister defended Prime Minister Tony Abbott against online criticism that he had not done enough to save the lives of Sukumaran and Chan.

Australian actors including Geoffrey Rush, Guy Pearce, Joel Edgerton and Bryan Brown have launched an online video calling for Indonesia to show mercy to the two men.

(Press Association)