On top of fierce criticism against Indonesia’s stance on capital punishment for drug trafficking, criticism increased on Friday as those ten remaining inmates who were recently moved to Nusa Kambangan island to face the firing squad are seemingly left unknowing about the timing of their executions (generally prisoners are given up to three-days’ notice of their execution).
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But Noor Rachmad from the Attorney General Office said on Friday morning that they would face the death penalty at a later date.
Diplomats, Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, and human rights groups called on Indonesia to halt the planned executions when the 72 hour notice was given, but their pleas fell on deaf ears.
The prison island of Nusakambangan where the convicts were expected to be executed in outdoor clearings was hit by a major storm as the other death sentences were carried out.
“I need to emphasize here that all the legal rights and legal procedures related to the death-row convicts have been fulfilled”, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir announced on Thursday (28 July).
Relatives of the four drug traffickers murdered, and 10 whose lives were spared for now, traveled to Nusakambangan Island the day before the executions to say their goodbyes and were visibly distraught when ambulances carrying coffins arrived in anticipation of transporting the dead.
“No clear information was provided to us about the time of execution, why only four [were executed] and what happens to the 10 others”, he told AFP.
Ban recalled that under worldwide law, the death penalty should be used for the most serious crimes and said “drug crimes are generally not considered to meet this threshold”.
Widodo, inaugurated as Indonesia’s seventh president in late 2014, takes a tough stance on drug crimes in order to safeguard the health of the Indonesian population.
Three Nigerians including Michael Titus Igweh have been executed in Indonesia despite global appeal against the harsh sentence.
In a rare show of public opinion against the death penalty in Indonesia, demonstrators assembled outside the jail before being ushered away by authorities.
Ricky Gunawan, lawyer for Humphrey Jefferson Ejike, said the execution process was “a complete mess”.
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Attorney-General Muhammad Prasetyo said the severity of the drug crimes and exhaustion of all appeals was a consideration in the execution of the four men.
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The execution of Pakistani death row prisoner, Zulfiqar Ali, accused for drug smuggling in Indonesia has been halted, Pakistan’s ambassador in Jakarta confirmed on Friday. “They all have passed through all legal stages, including extraordinary appeals”.
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The EU said the death penalty is an unacceptable denial of human dignity and called on Indonesia to “consider joining the wide community of over 140 states that have abolished the death penalty entirely or have adopted a moratorium”.
