MELBOURNE
The eight prisoners shot dead early Wednesday morning by an Indonesian firing squad refused the offer of blindfolds, stared at their executioners, and broke into song, according to spiritual advisors who attended the execution.
"Everyone was looking forward, it seems everyone accepted their fate," the Sydney Morning Herald reported Father Charles Burrows, as saying Wednesday.
Burrows - who provided guidance to the Brazilian national among the men - said it was difficult because Rodrigo Gularte was mentally ill.
He said Gularte - who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia as a teenager - talked to animals and was afraid of electromagnetic waves from satellites watching him above his prison.
He also believed Indonesia had abolished capital punishment, and that a prisoner extradition agreement with his home country meant he would be returning home next year.
"We didn't think [the execution] would happen," Burrows told the Herald.
"[But] it is finished [now]. It's all done."
The Herald reported that in the still night air of Nusa Kambangan island - where the prison at which the men were executed is based - the condemned men joined in a chorus of "Amazing Grace" just after midnight, before their song was cut short by the sound of gunfire.
"They were praising their God," Pastor de Vega told the daily.
"They bonded together," she said. "Brotherhood. They sang one song after another. Praising God. [And then] they sang a few songs together, like in a choir."
At the crack of the rifles discharging, she said many of those gathered outside became hysterical, but by the time the coffins arrived a measure of calm had returned.
The Herald reported a unnamed source as saying that all eight died quickly after being shot in the heart.
Those executed were Australian “Bali Nine” duo Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran; Gularte; Martin Anderson of Ghana; Raheem Agbaje Salami, Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise and Okwudili Oyatanze of Nigeria; and Indonesian national Zainal Abidin.
