The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has called on the Indonesian government to stop the executions of 14 death row convicts scheduled to face the firing squad this week, saying the increasing use of death penalty in the country is “terribly worrying.”
he UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein has called on the Indonesian government to stop the executions of 14 death row convicts scheduled to face the firing squad this week, saying the increasing use of the death penalty in the country is “terribly worrying.”
“I find it deeply disturbing that Indonesia has already executed 19 people since 2013, making it the most prolific executioner in Southeast Asia,” Zeid said in a statement released on Wednesday.
The whole legal process for the death row convicts, mostly sentenced for drug-related crimes, lacked transparency and did not comply with fair trial principles, including the right to appeal, the international body said.
Zeid said drug-related offenses did not fall under the threshold of the “most serious crimes” and therefore their perpetrators should not be punished by death. “The focus of drug-related crime prevention should involve strengthening the justice system and making it more effective,” he said.
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has confirmed that the third wave of executions under the Joko “Jokowi” Widodo administration will be carried out later this week. The Jokowi government said it could not interfere with the legal process of the death row inmates, which it said had reached a binding conclusion. (ary)
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