Indonesia set for new round of executions
Print Edition
INDONESIA is preparing for a new round of executions, police said yesterday, around a year after Jakarta put seven foreign drug convicts to death by firing squad.
Officials recently started getting ready after an order from the attorney-general’s office, which oversees executions, said Central Java police spokesman Aloysius Lilik Darmanto.
He said no date had been set for the executions, which will take place on the prison island of Nusakambangan in Central Java, and he did not know who would face the firing squad.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo has repeatedly insisted that drug traffickers must face the firing squad to stem rising narcotics use. There are scores of drug convicts on death row in the country, including Indonesians and foreigners.
“We have been making preparations,” Darmanto said. “We are ready whenever the order comes.”
Capital punishment
Indonesia executed in April last year seven foreigners — two Australians, a Brazilian and four Nigerians — and an Indonesian for drug offenses.
Since then, no one else has been put to death, but officials continued to insist that it was the country’s right to use capital punishment.
Among the foreigners on death row are Frenchman Serge Atlaoui and Filipina Mary Jane Veloso, who were both pulled from the last round of executions.
A British grandmother, Lindsay Sandiford, is on death row in Bali after she was caught smuggling a huge stash of cocaine into the resort island.
Darmanto said preparations included ensuring locations where the executions would take place were ready. For last year’s executions, the drug convicts were taken to a jungle clearing on the island, which houses several high-security prisons, and tied to stakes before being shot.
“We have also prepared the facility for the bodies,” he said. “Each death row convict will face a group of 10 shooters and one group commander. We have selected and trained the personnel.”
The April round was the second under Widodo. Since he took office in 2014, 14 drug convicts — mostly foreigners — have been executed.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
