The group, including foreigners from Nigeria, Pakistan, India and Zimbabwe as well as Indonesians, had been placed in isolation on a prison island where Jakarta carries out executions. Of the more than 1,600 publicly announced executions past year, Amnesty says almost 90 percent of them were in three countries: Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran. “They all have been given chances at all stages”, he said.
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The death penalty is widely accepted by the Indonesian public, but police on Thursday had to break up a protest outside the prison by members of a migrant workers group who called for mercy for an Indonesian woman who was scheduled to be executed.
Pakistani death row prisoner Zulfiqar Ali was transferred from hospital to Nusakambangan ahead of his planned execution.
“Resorting to this type of punishment to prevent drug trafficking is not only illegal, it is also futile”, they added, stressing that is a lack of persuasive evidence that the death penalty contributes more than any other punishment to eradicating drug trafficking.
“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”, Amnesty International said in a statement.
Indonesia was accused of breaking its own laws by planning to hold the executions on Thursday.
Plans for Thursday’s executions reportedly began after the United Nations convened in April for a special meeting aimed at shaping global drug policy.
The Indonesian government has carried out executions of an unspecified number of convicted drug traffickers, according to local television reports.
“Any executions that are still to take place must be halted immediately”.
“Somehow President Jokowi just doesn’t seem to understand that his so-called “war on drugs” that results in people being executed is immoral and unjust”, he said, using a popular nickname for the Indonesian leader.
Indonesia has not released an official list of those to be executed but the country’s attorney-general on Wednesday said 14 people would be put to death. The death penalty is the ultimate denial of human rights, and we oppose it in every case.
Local undertaker Suhendro Putro, who prepared coffins for Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran past year, was meanwhile told to “be ready tonight”.
Sandiford has continuously said she was carrying the drugs to protect her son who she claims was being threatened.
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It has also emerged that former director-general of human rights in the ministry of law, Hafid Abbas, made a recommendation more than a decade ago to then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that Ali should be pardoned.
