OPINION: Barrister Bob Myers tipped off the Australian Federal Police in an effort to stop family friend Scott Rush from committing a crime in Bali. Here he tells News.com.au why he believes the AFP will have blood on their hands when Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are executed:

It seems likely that without the intervention of the Australian Government, at the highest level, both Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan will be executed by firing squad in the short-term.

Again, without intervention, the other members of the group who have become known, over the past decade, as the ‘Bali Nine’ will likely spend the rest of their natural days incarcerated in some Indonesian prison.

It seems to me that what has been overlooked is that we are not here concerned with Australian citizens who are prepared to journey to a foreign country and commit a crime therein which might ultimately have led to the imposition of a sentence of death.

The Bali Nine were not “drug dealers” as referred to by the Indonesian President Joko Widodo, responsible for “killing 50 people a day in Indonesia”.

The Bali Nine were present in Indonesia as part of a conspiracy to commit a crime against only Australia and Australians.

The fact is that this group of nine young Australians was exposed to the almost inevitable imposition of the death penalty by a deliberate, premeditated decision of the Australian Federal Police, taken in complete contravention of the relevant Guidelines without any referral to the Government of the day.

The police actions were contrary to principle, their obligation to uphold the law and their obligation to protect Australian citizens. The fact is that the Police were in a position to prevent any crime by apprehending the co-conspirators prior to their departure from Australia.

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Prior to the departure of the Bali Nine from Australia I received a ‘plea for help’ from the father of Scott Rush, who was concerned that Scott might be associated with illegal drug activities. At the request of Mr Rush I contacted the Australian Federal Police requesting that they intervene to prevent the commission of any offence.

I was asked at the time whether I could propose any basis upon which Scott could be prevented from leaving the country. I said that I was not aware of any.

I was informed that, in the circumstances, the Federal Police could not prevent Scott from leaving the country. Nevertheless, I was informed of a Passport Alert System which was in operation and I was assured that Scott would be spoken to by the Federal Police, after activation of the alert, prior to his leaving Australia.

I conveyed this information to Scott’s father. We had the expectation that Scott would not commit any offence had he been aware of the AFP’s interest in him.

In fact, what was said to me by the AFP was a deliberate lie.

The AFP were well aware of the clandestine conspiracy that had been arranged, involving not only the nine young people who were ultimately detained, but a group of others who were ultimately charged in respect of their conspiracy to commit a crime in this country, dealt with in the Australian courts and duly punished, given that the proposed crime of importation of drugs was an offence against the laws of Australia.

Contrary to what was said to me on that occasion, prior to Scott leaving this country, the Australian Federal Police had written to their Indonesian counterparts, providing full particulars, including names, dates of birth and passport numbers of those who were involved in this conspiracy.

There is no doubt that the Federal Police had knowledge that the information that they were providing to the Indonesian authorities would likely result in the loss of Australian lives.

I spoke with the Federal Police officer in charge of the operation in Indonesia within weeks of the arrest of the nine. He informed me at that time that the Federal Police would do all that they could do to prevent the imposition of the death penalty, although making it clear that there was a strong possibility that the death penalty would be invoked.

What that police officer failed to tell me was that he was the author of the very letter that provided details of these nine young Australians to the Indonesian authorities. It was he who gave the Indonesian authorities the imprimatur of the AFP to act against these nine young Australians in whatever way they saw fit.

This police officer feigned concern for the fate of the young Australians, concealing from me, until the AFP letter ultimately became a public record, that it was he who was responsible for the detention of all of these Australian citizens.

I find it difficult to accept that a Government who has now, and had then, in place strict guidelines in relation to cooperation with our foreign neighbours, where there was a risk of the imposition of the death penalty, cannot now approach such a friendly nation and ally and seek, in the light of the complete disregard and disobedience of such Guidelines, a return of these nine citizens to Australia to be dealt with in accordance with Australian law.

Ultimately the matter can be tested in this way. If these young people were in Australian and Indonesian sought extradition, because of the crime committed on Indonesia soil, would a Court make an order for extradition? The answer is clearly no.

Contrary to what was done by the AFP in this instance no authority in this country, perhaps short of the Attorney General, in some critical circumstances, can make a decision which will expose an Australian citizen to the imposition of the death penalty.

Silence on the part of the Australian Government at this time condones the actions of the Federal Police.

There was no justification for the actions of the Police in this instance. There was no justification for the deliberate lies that were told to me. The Federal Police were in possession of sufficient facts to detain all of the co-conspirators, at Sydney Airport, at the time of their departure, and to charge them with conspiracy to commit an offence.

The alternative was to keep the nine under surveillance, perhaps with the cooperation of the Indonesian authorities, and monitor their movements on their return to Australia with a view to making more significant inroads in the war against drugs, including the identification of those resident in this country responsible for the organisation of drug importation.

Seeking release of these nine young Australian people does not give rise to any precedent. This is a unique set of circumstances.

It is apparent that the AFP officers involved in this police conspiracy, resulting in the incarceration of these young people in a foreign land, at best, for significant periods of their lives, at worst, until their execution, have not been brought to justice.

I cannot see that an appeal at the highest level on a Government to Government basis, disclosing the true facts and circumstances in which these young people were sacrificed by the AFP for, it would seem, sycophantic reasons, cannot be redressed.

I am convinced that we all have an obligation to use our utmost endeavours to redress the unauthorised and unlawful actions of the AFP.

When the true facts and circumstances leading to the incarceration of the Bali Nine are brought to the attention of President Widodo it is difficult to see that such a friendly ally would not direct a return of these Australian citizens to their country of origin — the country against which the unlawful actions of the Bali Nine were directed.

I entreat the Prime Minister of Australia to act.