Indonesia on Friday executed four drug convicts by firing squad, an official said, ignoring worldwide pressure and desperate pleas from relatives to halt the execution.
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Among those executed were one Indonesian and three Nigerian nationals.
Indonesia quickly rebuffed appeals from the United Nations human rights chief and the European Union to abandon plans to execute 14 people for drug crimes as preparations intensified Thursday at the prison island where the death row inmates are held.
The government had said earlier in the week that 14 people on death row, mostly foreigners, would be executed on the Nusa Kambangan prison island.
Australian drug convicts Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were executed after numerous appeals from supporters who claimed they were reformed.
Syed Zahid Raza, the deputy Pakistani ambassador in Jakarta, said Zulfiqar Ali’s family had been informed he would be executed Thursday night.
Three Nigerians and an Indonesian were on Thursday executed for drug trafficking offences.
Friday’s executions were the first in the country since April previous year when authorities put to death eight drug convicts, including Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, sparking global outcry. He was given the death sentence even though prosecutors had recommended a 20-year jail term for Singh, who is also known as Vishal and belongs to Jalandhar in Punjab.
“When the president or the government argue that these people killed the younger generation we asked them numerous time where is the data”, Indonesian rights activist, Gadis Avira told reporters.
Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen reporting from Jakarta on the global appeals to halt the Indonesian executions.
Amnesty International said some of the cases were emblematic of systemic flaws within the Indonesian justice system.
“The executions were for now conducted on four convicts on death row”, he said hinting that the executions may be spread over multiple days.
Family members of Michael Titus Igweh, a Nigerian prisoner, said his case was still under review.
According to Cornell Law School’s death penalty database, there are about 134 people now on death row in Indonesia and about half of them were convicted of drug crimes.
“I need to emphasise here that all the legal rights and legal procedures related to the death-row convicts have been fulfilled”, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Arrmanatha Nasir said on Thursday defending the executions.
“The injustice already done can not be reversed, but there is still hope that it won’t be compounded”, Rafendi Djamin, Amnesty International’s director for South East Asia and the Pacific, said in a statement on Friday.
He said the government hasn’t decided when the other executions will take place.
“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.
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Amnesty International also issued a strong statement, saying the President “will be putting his government on the wrong side of history if he proceeds with a fresh round of executions”.
