Indonesia ready to execute foreigners after rejecting appeal for clemency, one Nigerian among

Indonesia is ready to execute seven foreign drug convicts on death row after their appeals for presidential clemency were rejected, an official said, in a move certain to set Jakarta on a collision course with international allies.

 

They include two Australian leaders of the "Bali Nine" drug-smuggling gang, who have been on death row for almost a decade. The pair lost their appeals in December and earlier this month.

 

 

 

 

 

A spokesman for the attorney-general's office revealed late Wednesday that a further five foreigners, from countries including France, Brazil, Nigeria and Ghana, have also lost their appeals.

 

The Attorney General H.M. Prasetyo says this will sends a "strong message" to the drug lords, that there will be  "no mercy for drug traffickers. For those who disagree with the death penalty, hopefully they can understand that what we are doing is simply to save our nation from the threat of narcotics".

Also for the Indonesian Supreme Court spokesman Suhadi the executions - which recommenced last year, after a moratorium that began in 2008 - are "in accordance with the law", despite the wave of protests of activists and the demands to commute the death penalty to life in prison. On 30 December, the president rejected their request for clemency. To date there are 64 other prisoners on death row for drug offenses, waiting to face the Executioner