Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran: executed

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Australia will withdraw its ambassador to Indonesia following the execution of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran by firing squad early Wednesday.

He announced what the Sydney Morning Herald described as an ‘unprecedented’ move during a press conference in Canberra on Wednesday morning.

“We respect Indonesia’s sovereignty but we do deplore what’s been done and this cannot be simply business as usual. For that reason, once all the courtesies have been extended to the Chan and Sukumaran families our ambassador will be withdrawn for consultations.”

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Australia has not withdrawn ambassadors when other Australian citizens have been subjected to the death penalty, including when convicted Australian drug smuggler Van Tuong Nguyen was executed in Singapore in 2005,

“I want to stress that this is a very important relationship between Australia and Indonesia but it has suffered as a result of what’s been done over the last few hours,” Abbott said.

Tony Abbott: Australian PM: expresses country’s displeasure against Indonesia

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said that Australia’s ambassador, Paul Grigson, will return to Australia by the end of the week for consultations with the government about the future of Australia’s relationship with Indonesia.

“The withdrawal of an ambassador is to register our displeasure at the way our citizens have been treated,” Ms Bishop said.

Executing the two men was “senseless” given they had rehabilitated themselves during a decade in prison, Ms Bishop said.

Mr Abbott said he understood that Australians would be angry about Indonesia’s decision to proceed with the executions but urged people not to make a bad situation worse.

“I absolutely understand people’s anger,” Mr Abbott said.

“On the other hand, we do not want to make a difficult situation worse and the relationship between Australia and Indonesia is important, remains important, will always be important, will become more important as time goes by. So I would say to people yes, you are absolutely entitled to be angry but we’ve got to be very careful to ensure that we do not allow our anger to make a bad situation worse.”