Earlier this week the attorney general of Indonesia stated that 14 people, mostly foreigners, would be executed in the drug related charges. His elevation will cause dismay to many in East Timor, where troops under the general’s command killed 1,400 people in a rampage of violence in 1999.
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The 14 included Nigerian, Pakistani, Zimbabwean and Indian nationals, as well as a prisoner from Senegal.
Following the announcement, family members, NGOs, civil rights activists and the Pakistani government had been pressurizing the Indonesian government to cancel the execution of Zulfiqar Ali.
Citing Law and Human Rights Ministry data, HRW revealed 133 people were on death row in Indonesia as of January 2015.
“Indonesian President Joko Widodo, popularly known as “Jokowi”, will be putting his government on the wrong side of history if he proceeds with a fresh round of executions”, it said in a statement. The sister of a Pakistani convicted of drug crimes has appealed the Indon… All the cases have gone through a long legal process including appeals, he said.
“There is strong evidence of torture and he was not given a fair trial”.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Wednesday called on Indonesia to end the “unjust” use of the death penalty, while the European Union urged Jakarta to stop the “cruel and inhumane punishment, which fails to act as a deterrent”.
Wiranto, former commander of the Indonesian armed forces, has been named minister for security, political and legal affairs in a cabinet reshuffle today.
“We wish to set the record straight that contrary to the pronouncements by the Indonesian authorities that two of the 15 convicts awaiting execution were Zimbabweans, the Government has since established that they are in fact, Nigerian nationals”.
Also on Thursday, the US-based group Human Rights Watch (HRW) said it opposed the death penalty in all circumstances because of its inherent cruelty.
At the last moment Filipina Mary Jane Veloso, also sentenced to death, was spared.
Jokowi’s predecessor ended a moratorium on executions in 2013.
“There is no evidence to support President Widodo’s position”, said Amnesty’s Josef Benedict.
The Indonesian authorities have not yet clarified the reasons under which the executions of 10 convicts have been halted.
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Executions in Indonesia usually take place late at night outside the Nusakambangan prison island in Cilacap, Central Java.
