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‘Nothing but an iron bar to hug’: Andrew Chan

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Bali Nine ringleader Andrew Chan has reflected on his execution in a heartbreaking new letter, saying the only thing he has to embrace in prison is “an iron bar”.

The letter reveals the 31-year-old’s torment over spending the past decade separated from his family, and was written as part of a drug education campaign for teenagers.

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“Your family and your friends are heartbroken and your life will be ended by a firing squad,” Chan wrote in the letter.

“I have missed weddings. I’ve missed funerals and the simple presence of my own family.”

He described the pain he had inflicted on his family after being convicted of smuggling heroin 10 years ago as “agonising”.

“I have nothing but an iron bar to hug rather than to be embraced by those I love and who I miss.”

The letter comes after the transfer of Chan and Myuran Sukumaran to their place of execution on Nusakambangan Island last week.

Indonesia says it will now wait for the legal appeals of the Bali Nine pair, meaning they could be on Nusakambangan for weeks.

New mobile phone footage has also emerged of Chan on Nusakambangan Island, in which he reflects on whether or not he will be given clemency.

“It’s a day – pretty much a few hours – after the execution of six innocent lives,” he says.

“I guess what runs through my head is about how precious life really is.

“I guess sometimes you kinda got to think, what does it take to get a second chance?

“People get second chances within their lives on the outside, but how much can you get when you’re a convicted criminal.”

Filmmaker Malinda Rutter told Channel Seven’s Sunday Night program she asked him to write the letter, and said she believed that Chan and Sukumaran had changed.

“They are totally reformed and this is totally genuine,” Ms Rutter said.

“That’s what’s so sad.”

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