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Indian national Gurdip Singh not executed in Indonesia: Sushma Swaraj

Singh was found guilty of trying to smuggle 300 grams of heroin into Indonesia in 2004 and was sentenced to death by the state district court at Tanggerang in Banten province in February 2005.

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Mr Singh is believed to be sequestered now on a prison island with other drug convicts who are to face a firing squad in a matter of hours.

Sushma Swaraj tweeted about this case and inform the whole nation that she is working hard in last minute to save Gurminder from a death sentence.

The last-minute efforts of India to save the life of Gurdip Singh, a Punjab native, facing death penalty in Indonesia seemed to have worked as he was left out from among four convicts, including three foreigners, executed on Friday for drug crimes, reports said. “The Embassy sent a Note Verbal to Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry requesting that all legal recourse should be exhausted before the death penalty is carried out”, Swarup said.

Afdhal Muhammad, the legal representative of Singh was of the view that he could file for Presidential clemency under the relevant law before the President of Indonesia. So far, however, top Indonesian officials have defended the use of the death penalty for combat rising narcotics use and have rejected appeals from the United Nations and European Union to halt the execution of the 14 convicts who include citizens of Nigeria, Pakistan, and Zimbabwe.

In a statement, Attorney General M Prasetyo said the executions of the 14 death row inmates would be conducted early on Friday.

The Indonesian officials have not provided the exact date on which the executions will take place.

This was the third set of executions under President Joko Widodo who was elected in 2014 and campaigned on promises to improve human rights in Indonesia, reported Jakarta Post. The last round was in April 2015, when authorities put to death eight drug convicts, including two Australians.

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“It was not a pleasant thing but it was to implement the law”, said Rachmad. Carrying out executions will not rid Indonesia of drugs.

Politician-Sushma-Swaraj