'Let them out': Renae Lawrence begs for five Bali 9 mules' release

Bali Nine member Renae Lawrence, who was released in 2018, pleads for her fellow drug mules. Photo / Supplied

Freed Bali 9 drug mule Renae Lawrence has begged the Indonesian president to release the remaining heroin smugglers in the failed 2005 drug plot.

The five Bali 9 members left in Indonesian prisons are set to die in jail.

Speaking as Joko Widodo arrived in Australia to meet with Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Lawrence appealed to both leaders, saying "as each year goes by these young men are losing hope".

Three of the remaining Bali 9 left in jail (left to right), Michael Czugaj, Matthew Norman and Si Yi Chen. Photo / Supplied

She also revealed she plans to return to the country of her incarceration to live and work.

"I am the only female member of the so-called Bali Nine and the only one to receive a determinate sentence," she said.

"I continue to worry about these five young men who, if they had received the same sentence as me, may well have been back in Australia with their families by now.

"Their families constantly travel to Indonesia to visit their sons at great expense, their anguish remains."
Lawrence made no mention of the Bali 9 kingpins, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who Widodo sent to execution by firing squad in 2015.

Martin Stephens and Renae Lawrence transport from jail to court in 2005. Photo / AP

The Bali 9 was a group of nine young Australians rounded up by Chan and Sukumaran to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin strapped to their bodies from Bali to Australia.

Arrested at Denpasar airport and in hotel rooms in April 2005, they were locked up in Bali's Kerobokan jail.

Five of the nine – Chan and Sukamaran, along with Scott Rush, Matthew Norman, Si Yi Chen were sentenced to death.

Norman was aged just 18 and Rush and another Bali 9 members, Michael Czugaj, were just 19 years old at the time.

Renae Lawrence received a life sentence, which was reduced to 20 years and, with remissions for good behaviour, she was released after serving 13 years in 2018.

By then, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran had been executed on Indonesia's Nusakambangan or "Death" island and Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen died from cancer while in custody.

Renae Lawrence, left, after her 2005 arrest and Renae Lawrence, right, in Kerobokan Prison in 2011. Photo / News.com.au / Supplied

Lawrence's release left five of the heroin plotters still incarcerated in various Indonesian jails.

They are Matthew Norman and Michael Czugaj, both 33, and Scott Rush and Si Yi Chen, both 34, and Martin Stephens, 44.

All are serving life sentences with no chance of release and have exhausted all avenues of appeal.

Lawrence told a Canberra press conference on Sunday she was "breaking my self-imposed silence" to request Widodo and Morrison "consider a reduction in sentence for the remaining five prisoners".

Lawrence said during her incarceration she became "fond of the Indonesian people and was treated well by the jail authorities. We always had sufficient food".

"I made quite a few good friends among the prisoners … and some of the prison staff.

"We acknowledge we did the wrong thing and we continue to apologise to the Indonesian Government and the citizens of Indonesia for our stupidity."

She requested a determinate sentence for each man, and if that wasn't possible, their exchange to serve out their time in Australian prisons.

Lawrence plans to apply to return to Indonesia to live and work.