ETL NEWS BLOG: Despite Protests, Indonesia Moves To Execute Drug Convicts (See Their Photos)

Tuesday, 28 April 2015

Despite Protests, Indonesia Moves To Execute Drug Convicts (See Their Photos)

Mary Jane Velose, 30, Philippines

Two are young Australians portrayed back home as generally good lads. One is a Brazilian who is mentally ill. There are four Nigerian men, a female migrant worker from the Philippines and an Indonesian laborer.

They come from diverse backgrounds and circumstances, but all nine were convicted of drug crimes in Indonesia. And all are scheduled to die soon in a mass execution on a remote island off the southern coast of Java.

In what is believed will be the largest such execution in Indonesia in decades, firing squads could start the job as early as 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday.

A 10th convict, a French citizen, had been part of the group but won a last-minute, two-week reprieve late Saturday night, according to a spokesman in the attorney general’s office, Tony Spontana. the decision involved “an issue with the high courts” but provided no further explanation.

Two are young Australians. One is a Brazilian who is mentally ill. There are four Nigerian men, a female migrant worker from the Philippines and an Indonesian laborer.

The executions, if carried out as planned, will follow those of five foreign drug convicts shot to death — along with one Indonesian convicted of murder — in the same spot in January, and are part of a campaign by President Joko Widodo to combat what he calls a “national emergency” of drug abuse.

He has rejected appeals for clemency from 64 drug convicts on death row, the vast majority of them foreigners, and plowed ahead with plans to execute them by the end of the year.

The effort has angered allies and set off diplomatic disputes on three continents.

Some countries, like France and Australia, oppose the death penalty under any circumstances. Others have attacked Indonesia’s judiciary as corrupt and incompetent.