Andrew Chan wedding photo shows prisoner smiling with joy a day before his execution
TV One Indonesia obtained leaked footage reportedly taken by officials
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Your support makes all the difference.Images have emerged showing the moment condemned Australian Andrew Chan married his fiancée just a day before he was executed.
The 31-year-old wed Indonesian Febyanti Herewila in prison on Monday, little over 24 hours before he was shot dead by a firing squad alongside friend Myuran Sukumaran and six other people.
Stills from a video of the ceremony show him smiling blissfully as he puts a ring on her finger, dressed in a pale shirt to be married by friend David Soper, a Salvation Army minister.
Photography is prohibited on the feared Nusakambangan island and families claimed they were banned from recording their last moments with the condemned men, Australian media reported.
The wedding video, filmed by Indonesian officials, appears to have been leaked to Indonesia’s TV One network and spread without the consent of Chan or his relatives.
It also revealed a series of photographs of the prisoners’ last days.
Michael Chan, Andrew’s brother, announced the wedding on Monday, saying the ceremony had been attended by a small group of close family and friends.
“It's tough times but it's happy times at the same time,” he told reporters on the mainland.
“We just hope that the president somewhere will find some compassion and mercy for these two, this young couple so they can carry on with their lives.”
That hope was in vain the death sentence was carried out last night, despite international outrage, legal appeals and diplomatic interventions to save him.
The eight prisoners’ families lit candles as they watched the procession of cars taking them to the execution site, the Sydney Morning Herald reported, adding many became hysterical when gunshots rang out a short time later.
They reportedly sang hymns and “Amazing Grace” in the moments before they were killed and refused to wear blindfolds as they faced the firing squad shortly after 12.30am local time.
H.M. Prasetyo, Indonesia’s Attorney General, told detik.com that he had personally granted Chan’s last request to marry but initially thought it was a joke.
“There was a wish from Andrew Chan, which I thought wasn't serious and wasn't the last wish, but it turned out to be serious,” he added.
“He wanted to be tied in matrimony with his girlfriend.”
Febyanti, known as Feby, met Chan while she was volunteering as a Christian pastor at Kerobokan Prison in Bali, in 2012.
He converted Christianity during his decade in jail and was studying to become a minister himself at the time, the Daily Mail reported.
Chan was subsequently ordained and ran services at a prison chapel and led prayers in the run-up to his death.
He proposed to his girlfriend in February this year, after the last attempt to stop his death sentence – an appeal to the President for clemency – failed.
At the time, Febyanti told News Corp Australia that her husband-to-be was “one of the strongest, kindest people I have ever met”
“I have never seen him as just a prisoner or someone who is on death row,” she added.
“I love him for who he is. And I see what he does for other people and that makes me love him more.
“If you ask me why do I love him, it’s because he also has weaknesses but he also has a lot of good things about him. I accept him the way he is. I am also very proud of him.”
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