Imagine you are a country faced with drug smuggling by a nearby neighbour. As a government, what might you do about this?

More than 20 years ago, a group of people met and deliberated in Australia. Next, they began executing a plan to smuggle over eight kilograms of heroin from Indonesia into Australia (some of the members had been involved in earlier heroin smuggling). They later became known as the “Bali Nine".

The Australian Federal Police co-operated with the Indonesian police who arrested the group in Indonesia in April 2005. The accused were tried in the Denpasar Criminal Court later that year. Under Indonesian law, all the defendants faced a maximum possible sentence of death by firing squad. All were ultimately found guilty.

A complex series of appeals followed, lodged by both the defendants and the prosecution (seeking higher penalties). After this extended, multi-year process, the death penalty for two defendants, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, was ultimately confirmed. They were executed by firing squad in 2015. All the other defendants received long prison sentences.

There was strong, at times fierce, criticism in Australia about what unfolded. Some said the AFP had co-operated too readily with the Indonesian police and that the AFP should have arrested and charged the accused in Australia as they returned from Indonesia. Others squarely questioned the adequacy of the Indonesian criminal justice system and raised accusations of bribery within that........

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