On the 29th of April 2015, eight men were executed by firing squad in Indonesia. Originally there were 10 sentenced to death, except one is attempting for an appeal while another was spared at the very last minute. Seven of the eight were foreigners, two from Australia, a Brazilian and two from Africa. The Australian citizens had played major roles in the notorious drug smuggling ring dubbed the Bali Nine. Before the execution, the prisoners had been given a 72-hour notice to say goodbyes to their loved ones. Arguably the execution gained widespread media attention due to the “redemption arch” of the Australian citizens; one had become a painter and the other an amateur preacher. The Bali Nine were caught in 2005 for attempting to smuggle 8.3 kg of heroin from Indonesia to Australia. The execution of the drug smugglers was a gruesome event, however more people could have died if the heroin got to Australia in…show more content… There is moral justification to capital punishment when applied to murder with aggravating elements such as multiple homicide, child murders and massacres. Prior to the Bali Nine arrests for smuggling heroin in 2005, each of the members had been numerously arrested for drug possession, fraud and driving under the influence. It is also speculated that the Bali Nine have previously made a successful smuggle in October 2004. At the time of the investigation into the Bali Nine, Australian Federal Police (AFP) did not have sufficient evidence for the syndicate’s conviction (Norman, 2015). If the Bali Nine were to return to Australia, the police would be apprehending drug mules and not the head honcho’s. Australia does not have the death penalty for drug smuggling and as members of the United Nations do not tolerate it. Yet the AFP made the statement that they knew of the Bali Nine’s plan to smuggle the heroin into Australia from Indonesia (Scarr,