TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Six drug convicts to be executed Sunday: AGO
The Attorney Generalâs Office (AGO) will execute six drug convicts on Sunday after failing to do so by the end of last year
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
The Attorney General's Office (AGO) will execute six drug convicts on Sunday after failing to do so by the end of last year.
Attorney General HM Prasetyo confirmed on Thursday that five people ' four men and a woman ' would face the firing squad on Nusakambangan Island, Central Java, while one woman would face the firing squad in Boyolali, Central Java.
'We have prepared everything; the firing squad, clergymen and doctors. The executions will be done simultaneously, not one by one,' he said.
Prasetyo added that those scheduled for execution had been notified on Jan. 14.
'They were told at least three days beforehand so they could mentally prepare and give their final requests,' he said, adding that families and respective embassies had also been informed.
All six convicts requested clemency, but those requests were rejected by President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo on Dec. 30 last year. The President has vowed to show no mercy for drug convicts, as Indonesia has become a major market for global drug trafficking.
Prasetyo said the executions would demonstrate the government's determination to crack down on drugs, adding that as many as 40 to 50 people died each day from drug use.
'The executions of the convicts will send a message to all drug rings that Indonesia is serious about fighting them. I hope that people understand we are trying to save Indonesia from the dangers of drugs,' Prasetyo said.
Prasetyo added that executions of drug convicts on death row would be prioritized and that additional executions of drug convicts would soon follow.
According to the National Narcotics Agency (BNN), at least 68 people were on death row and awaiting execution for drug offenses in 2014.
Separately, Cilacap National Unity and Community Protection Agency (Bakesbanglinmas) head Imam Yudianto said that security at the Wijaya Pura Pier, which connects Nusakambangan Island to the mainland, had been tightened ahead of the executions.
'Everything is ready, we just need to wait for the signal,' Imam said.
Nusakambangan is a prison island that can accommodate about 1,500 high-profile inmates. It is located some two kilometers offshore Penyu Bay, Cilacap.
High-profile terror convict Abu Bakar Ba'asyir is currently serving a 15-year sentence on the island and some 50 prisoners sit on death row.
Indonesia has 11 laws carrying the death sentence, according to the Criminal Code (KUHP), including Law No. 12/1951 on firearm ownership; Law No. 11/PNPS 1963 on subversive activities; Law No. 5/1997 on drugs; Law No. 31/1999 on corruption eradication; Law No. 26/2000 on human rights courts; Law No. 23/2002 on children's protection; and Law No. 15/2003 on terrorism.
The most recent executions in Indonesia took place in 2013, when the AGO executed drug smuggler Adam Wilson, three convicted murderers and a Pakistani drug smuggler.
Human rights activists have criticized Indonesia's use of the death penalty, saying the government has no right to decide when a person should die.
Jakarta-based human rights watchdog Imparsial's executive coordinator, Poengky Indarti, condemned the decision to execute the six drug convicts.
'This shows that Indonesia has no regard for human life. The executions go against human rights and the Indonesian Constitution that stipulates that everyone has the right to life,' she said.
