Barlow and Chambers execution

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The Barlow and Chambers execution refers to the hanging in 1986 by Malaysia of two Australian citizens, Kevin John Barlow and Brian Geoffrey Chambers, for the drug trafficking of 141.9g of heroin.

The two men became the first Westerners to be executed under Malaysia's new tougher laws for drug offences. The executions caused public outcry and strained political relations between Australia and Malaysia at the time.

Contents 1 Arrests and trial 2 Political statements 3 Aftermath 4 See also 5 External links 6 References

[edit] Arrests and trial

Barlow and Chambers were both arrested at Bayan Lepas International Airport on November 9, 1983. They had met just weeks before their arrest. Each accused the other of ownership of the heroin located in Chambers' suitcase which Barlow was carrying when apprehended. They were sentenced by the High Court of Penang on August 1, 1985 and later hanged in Pudu Prison on July 7, 1986.

[edit] Political statements

The Australian Prime Minister at the time, Bob Hawke, made a passionate plea for a stay of execution on behalf of the two men. He later described the hanging as "barbaric", a remark which infuriated the Malaysian prime minister Mahathir bin Mohamad and led to an aggressive Anti-Australian sentiment in Malaysia.

[edit] Aftermath

• A four-hour television mini-series was released in 1988 entitled Barlow and Chambers: A Long Way From Home (Dadah is Death).
• A 2004 Canadian/Quebecois movie, Manners Of Dying, directed by Jeremy Peter Allen, refers to the executions through the name of its main character, Kevin Barlow.

[edit] See also

• List of Australian criminals
• List of Australians in international prisons

[edit] External links

• Dadah Is Death at the Internet Movie Database
• Australia and the Death Penalty
• Drugs a threat to society: Malaysian PM, The Age, February 22, 2006

[edit] References

• Williams, David. This little piggy stayed home : Barlow, Chambers and the Mafia Perth, W.A.: Panorama Books, 1989. ISBN 0949864218

• West Australian newspaper: -Transferred to death row, Penang jail (August 1985) and await news of their appeal for clemency (Nov. 1985 - June 1986. 6 Nov. 1985, p.33; 15 Nov. 1985, p.33; 18 Nov. 1985, p.43; 25 Nov. 1985, p.14; 14 Jan. 1986, p.11; 11 Feb. 1986, p.24; 5 June 1986, p.20; 19 June 1986, p.1.

• West Australian newspaper: The sentences of capital punishment (21 Dec. 1985). Editorial on the death penalty and heroin trading (Dec. 1985), summaries of events (June 1986), their hanging in Kuala Lumpur (7 July 1986) and their involvement in organised drug smuggling (July 1986).

• West Australian newspaper: 23 June 1986, pp.1-9 - summary of case. (They are hanged 7 July 1986). 21 Dec. 1985, p.8; 23 June 1986, p.1-9; 8 July 1986, p.1-2; 9 July 1986, p.10; 7 May 1987, p.1