The other 10, including Indonesian woman Merry Utami, would face the death penalty at a later unspecified date, Noor Rachmad from the Attorney General Office said.
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The executed Indonesian was named as Freddy Budiman, while the three others, Nigerians, were: Seck Osmane, Humphrey Jefferson Ejike Eleweke and Michael Titus Igweh.
The group, including foreigners from Nigeria, Pakistan, India and Zimbabwe as well as Indonesians, have been placed in isolation on a prison island where Jakarta carries out executions.
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”.
Officials have prepared a burial site for Muslims and another site for Christians whose bodies will not be transferred to the families after execution, said Capt. Bintoro Wasono, a Cilacap police spokesman.
Indonesia has on Thursday night halted execution of Pakistani citizen at the eleventh hour, Zulfiqar Ali, ARY News reported.
His execution drive has shocked the global community and disappointed activists, particularly as hopes were high that Widodo, seen as a fresh face in a political world dominated by figures from Indonesia’s authoritarian past, would improve the country’s rights record.
Indonesia’s prosecutors have always stressed that only death row convicts who have exhausted all legal avenues are put on the execution list.
Ten other individuals who also faced the death penalty were granted a sudden and unexpected reprieve, although it remains unclear why they were spared and for how long they will remain alive.
“We don’t know what will happen next because I was not allowed to meet with my husband”.
(AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary). Family members and relatives of Zulfikar Ali, convicted of drug crimes, demand his release during a protest, in Lahore, Pakistan, Wednesday, July 27, 2016. “I don’t know what to say, we don’t have time”.
Nila said she had chosen to sacrifice her last-ever visit to Igweh in order to tell his story to the media: “At this time I believe there are two things that can help Titus, one is God and one is the media”.
Of the more than 1,600 publicly announced executions previous year, Amnesty says almost 90 percent of them were in three countries: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran.
On Thursday morning 17 ambulances – 14 containing coffins – were ferried to Nusakambangan, known as Indonesia’s Alcatraz, where the prisoners will be strapped to wooden posts and shot dead by a firing squad.
They will be executed at Nusakambangan prison island. “They all have been given chances at all stages”. “The failure to do the verification before running the story is completely unprofessional”, it said.
Widodo refused appeals for clemency from relatives of the convicts and ignored calls for a halt to the executions from rights groups and the United Nations.
Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo said the executions are expected to begin as early as Friday and completed no later than Sunday.
“Jokowi should also ban the death penalty for drug crimes, which worldwide law prohibits, rather than giving the go-ahead for more multiple executions”.
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Dateline revisits the story of Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran to look at the men they used to be and the men they’d become.
