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AKARTA: Anti-capital punishment activists and experts have urged the abolition of the death penalty as it is believed to undermine human dignity as well as failing to deliver a deterrent effect to criminals.

Speaking before a forum co-organized by the human rights watchdog Imparsial and the British Embassy in Jakarta on Monday, noted lawyer and human rights activist Todung Mulya Lubis presented 10 reasons to abolish the death penalty in Indonesia, among which were that it undermined human dignity, was incompatible with Article 28 of 1945 Constitution that guaranteed the right to life of every individual and that it failed to curb similar crimes.

“Capital punishment in Indonesia is inherited from the colonial law. We must replace this law because the Dutch, from whose law the punishment was adapted no longer practice the death penalty. Indonesia has been an independent country for 66 years and it’s time for us to establish our own law,” he said.

He added that Indonesia would be in a dilemma in its attempt to protect its migrant workers from death sentences if still practiced it.

Indonesia has executed 18 individuals between 2004 and 2008, including the execution of the Bali bombers Imam Samudra and Ali Ghufron.