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Activists applaud clemency for death-row drug convict Merri Utami
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Activists ask President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to postpone the execution of death-row convict Merri Utami in a rally on Jl. Pahlawan in Semarang, Central Java, on July 26, 2016. (thejakartapost.com/Suherdjoko)
P
resident Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has commuted the sentence of drug trafficking convict Merri Utami from the death penalty to life in prison, the convict’s lawyers have said, to the relief of activists who have long been supporting her plea.
The change in sentence was enacted by presidential decree on Feb. 27, some seven years after Merri sent her clemency plea to Jokowi. Merri’s legal team, from the Community Legal Aid Institute (LBH Masyarakat), learned about the commutation earlier this month but announced the news only recently.
Her lawyers applauded the decision but expressed their wish that the government lower Merri’s sentence further, as the 49-year-old had spent more than 20 years on death row for drug smuggling.
"Jokowi's move was right, as the death penalty is mostly inflicted on people who are poor, 'legally illiterate' and [belong to] vulnerable groups. Merri Utami is part of such a group, so her death sentence had to be reviewed," Afif Abdul Qoyim, one of Merri’s lawyers, told The Jakarta Post on Monday. "But we also want Merri's life sentence to be commuted so she can be released soon."
Merri was sentenced to death by the Tangerang District Court in 2002 for carrying 1.1 kilograms of heroin from Nepal to Indonesia. She contended that her then-boyfriend had tricked her into bringing the drugs into the country and that she had been tortured into signing a confession of guilt during her interrogation.
Merri was spared execution at the last minute in 2016 after asking for the President’s clemency that same year.
