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strong>May 15, p7

Recently, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asked Indonesia to stop the planned executions of nine convicted drug-related criminals, but to no avail. It was the third time he had called on Indonesia to halt the execution plans.

Eight of the convicts were eventually executed. (By Muhammad Takdir, Geneva, Switzerland)

Your comments:

When 24 nations recently gathered (including Indonesia) for a '€œhigh-level panel'€ at the Human Rights Council, the UN'€™s top human rights official, UN assistant secretary-general Ivan Simonovic called for a global end to the death penalty.

Mr. Simonovic referred to the death penalty as '€œinhuman and outdated'€, and stated that its practice too often targeted '€œfoot soldiers'€ as opposed to the kingpins of the illegal drugs trade.

Kate

Ban Ki-moon has every reason to oppose the execution of drug mules, rehabilitated smugglers, schizophrenic foreign detainees etc.

As for trust in the Indonesian legal system, I think it must be second degree in view of the massive problem of corruption that plagues it.

Benam

I really think that Indonesia'€™s drug emergency is a bit of a figment of the imagination; either deliberately manufactured to corral public support for the government'€™s war against it, or completely overblown by media sensationalism.

Loro Blonyo

The UN is only as good as its member states allow it to be. The secretary general is only a '€œfront man'€ who has unfortunately very little actual clout.

Rojak

It is UN Secretary-General Ban-ki Moon'€™s '€œjob'€ as the current head of the UN to advocate against the use of the death penalty '€” to claim that his doing so is '€œpolitical'€ is an incredible slur.

Lise Buckeridge