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Executions seen to help AGO polish bad image
The numerous executions carried out of late by the Attorney General's Office (AGO) have been criticized as attempts by the body to publicize its functionality as it fights off a host of corruption cases
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The numerous executions carried out of late by the Attorney General's Office (AGO) have been criticized as attempts by the body to publicize its functionality as it fights off a host of corruption cases.
"It is too much to execute so many people in only one month and especially when the AGO is coming under attack for corruption cases.
"There is a strong sense that the office is using the executions to show they do something," Indra J. Pilliang of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies said.
The AGO said Friday they would execute two more convicts on death row in Surabaya on Friday night, although they did not mention the exact time.
The convicts are Sumiarsih and her son Sugeng, who were found guilty of the 1998 assassination of a marine family of five.
"That's what I heard," Junior Attorney General for Intelligence Wisnu Subroto said.
Junior Attorney General for General Crimes Abdul Hakim Ritonga confirmed the AGO would execute the two convicts as soon as possible.
Sumiarsih and Sugeng will be the fourth and fifth convicts to be executed before a firing squad within the space of a month.
The execution spree began when the AGO executed two Nigerian nationals at the Nusa Kambangan prison on June 26, the same day as the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking.
Last week, serial killer Ahmad Sarudji was executed in the North Sumatra capital of Medan.
The AGO has now executed as many people in four weeks as it had previously in the last three years.
However, Ritonga said the high number of executions in such a short time frame was because a large number of death row convicts had recently exhausted all legal possibilities of evading their sentences.
There are now 112 convicts on death row, including three accused of taking part in the Bali bombings. Since 1979, the AGO has executed 53 people.
The trio of Bali bombers -- Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Ali Ghufron -- face imminent execution. Attorney General Hendarman Supandji said the execution would take place immediately, as the court on Thursday rejected their final appeal.
"Legally, we can execute them now. But we must prepare the security matters. That's why I can't tell you when we can perform the execution," he said.
Human rights activists and non-governmental organizations have frequently demanded the death penalty be abolished, citing its ineffectiveness at deterring crime.
They have also called on the government and the House of Representatives to revise all laws that carry the punishment.
"The death penalty is against the Constitution and human rights. That's why we demand President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono stop the executions and revise the law," Poengky Indarti of the Indonesian Human Rights Monitor said.
She said government data showed that drugs cases in Jakarta had increased to 6,600 in 2006 from 4,400 in 2005 despite the fact that the crime carries a maximum penalty of death.
