The story was accompanied by a photo showing a sister of Pakistani drug convict Zulfikar Ali, who was among the 10 spared, weeping while holding his portrait.
Advertisement
Those convicted are said to be from Nigeria, Pakistan, India and Zimbabwe and Indonesians and had been isolated at a prison island where the executions are carried out.
Indonesia rejected appeals in the United Nations and European Union to prevent the execution of 14 drug convicts such as the Pakistani citizen earlier today.
The Ambassador said it was a moment of satisfaction that the collective efforts of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Foreign Office and the Pakistan Embassy in Jakarta had yielded positive results for Zulfiqar Ali who had not been given a chance of fair trial.
In Pakistan, dozens of Zulfikar Ali’s relatives distributed candies to well-wishers outside the family’s home in the eastern city of Lahore to express relief and joy over his life being spared.
Indonesia has become a “business field’ for the production, distribution, import and export of drugs, Prasetyo said”.
Indonesia executed four people convicted of drug crimes yesterday despite global protests and said it would decide later when as many as 10 others, who got an unexpected reprieve, are put to death.
Indonesia deputy attorney-general Noor Rachmad said the four were shot dead shortly after midnight on Central Java’s Nusa Kambangan prison island, during a thunderstorm. But Rachmad did not say why the 10 other drug convicts were not executed.
Kamara also stated that “Indonesian President Joko Widodo will be putting his government on the wrong side of history if he proceeds with a fresh round of executions”.
Those executed Friday were Indonesian Freddy Budiman and Nigerians Seck Osmane, Michael Titus and Humphrey Jefferson.
Indonesia executed 14 prisoners, mostly foreign drugs offenders, just over a year ago, causing diplomatic outrage.
Ali’s lawyers at the Justice Project Pakistan said that he was not executed as per schedule.
Diplomats and lawyers were angered after authorities notified family members the executions would take place on Thursday, saying they believed they could only be held on Friday after the end of a legally required, 72-hour notice period.
“The executions would be a form of legal breach and disobedience of the constitution”, Erasmus said.
Australia has held a firm stance against the death penalty in Indonesia since the executions of Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukamaran previous year.
Authorities stepped up preparations with ambulances carrying coffins seen crossing over to Nusakambangan island.
On Friday, an official said that the planned executions would go through “in stages”, declining to specify a time frame, reported the Jakarta Globe. Amnesty International estimates several thousand people are executed in China each year.
“Their families were given until 3pm today to visit them so it is likely that the executions would be carried out tonight”.
Advertisement
The four executed people have now been named.
