The mother of one of the Bali Nine members tragically passed away before she could see her son return home to Australia.
Matthew Norman is one of five remaining members of the Bali Nine, who will be sent to Australia from Indonesia next month.
Indonesian authorities have confirmed they are in the process of reaching a delicate deal with the Australian government, after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called for the release of the prisoners.
It is not yet clear how the inmates will be returned and whether or not they will have to serve the remainder of their sentence in Australia. But it could happen before the end of the year.
The news will be bittersweet for the family of Norman, who was 18 years old when he was arrested in 2005 and has been in prison for almost twenty years.
Norman’s wife, known as Anita, told a Daily Mail Australia correspondent in Bali on Tuesday that she was running out of time to reunite with her surviving father.
“I feel sorry for him,” he said.
‘His mother passed away last year and he has been here for 20 years now. And now his father is very old. It would be a shame if I couldn’t see it.
Matthew Norman’s wife, known as Anita, says her mother passed away last year.
Even if Norman must continue serving his sentence in Australia, the transfer would at least give his father access to see him.
His mother, Robyn Norman, had earlier attended his court proceedings in Indonesia and told reporters she was relieved her son was not executed.
An appeal to Indonesia’s Supreme Court in 2006 resulted in his life sentence being upgraded to the death penalty, but another appeal and a confession by Norman about his involvement in the plot led to his original sentence being reinstated.
Anita brought food to the prison for Norman on Monday, but didn’t seem to know what his reaction was to the news, or if he was preparing for the transfer.
“I don’t know yet,” he said. ‘We continue praying. We believe that our President is a good person.
“We don’t know yet, we just keep praying until the day.”
But on Saturday, a doctor at Bali’s Kerobokan prison, where Norman and fellow Bali Nine member Si Yi Chen are being held, said Norman had cried with joy at the prospect of returning home.
“Norman said he felt very happy and it made him cry,” Dr. Agung Hartawan told ABC.
Matthew Norman (pictured in 2006) was arrested in Indonesia when he was 18 years old.
‘Matt is trying to stay calm because he understands that there is no letter yet to show that they could actually return to Australia. “They feel hopeful but anxious.”
The crime that shook Australia
In 2005, Norman was arrested at the Maslati Hotel on Kuta Beach.
He and eight other Australians were involved in a scheme to smuggle more than 8.3kg of heroin from Indonesia to Australia, where it was reportedly worth $4 million.
But Indonesian police, with a tip-off from the Australian Federal Police, foiled the plot before they managed to leave Indonesia.
Norman, Martin Stephens, Si Yi Chen, Scott Rush and Michael Czugaj are serving life sentences in Indonesia.
Tan Duc Thanh Nguyen died of cancer in 2018, while Renae Lawrence was released that same year after her life sentence was reduced to 20 years on appeal.
The masterminds of the drug scheme, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, were executed by firing squad in 2015 on Nusa Kambangan or ‘Prison Island’.
Then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott appealed to Indonesia’s then-president to stop the executions in vain.
Norman has been teaching English and printing t-shirts while in prison. Anita said that “everyone can see” that she had been good.
The director of Kerobokan prison, Kristyo Nugroho, also noted in the past that Norman behaves well.