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Rights groups decry new attorney general's plan to resume death penalty
Attorney General Sanitiar Burhanuddin's stance on capital punishment will determine the fate of more than 300 death row inmates, including foreign nationals, in the country.
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Attorney General Sanitiar Burhanuddin (JP/Seto Wardhana)
J
ust three days after assuming his post, Attorney General Sanitiar Burhanuddin confirmed that he planned to resume enforcement of the death penalty, a move condemned by human rights activists and that could potentially plunge Indonesia into a diplomatic crisis.
Burhanuddin said the death penalty would be carried once an inkracht (final and binding court ruling) was reached.
"Some cases have not yet reached an inkracht. We will definitely carry out executions,” Burhanuddin said at the Attorney General's Office (AGO) headquarters in Jakarta on Friday, as quoted by Antara.
Indonesia has not carried out capital punishment since 2017 after 18 drug offenders, including foreigners, were executed in 2015 and 2016, prompting condemnation from the international community.
Burhanuddin’s stance will determine the fate of more than 300 death row inmates, including foreign nationals, in the country.
Amnesty International Indonesia estimated that as of the end of 2018, at least 308 death row convicts were awaiting execution without a clear date. The number does not include the 66 inmates, eight of whom are foreigners, who were handed death sentences this year.
The number was reduced to 61 following the commutations granted to four inmates, including convicted French drug smuggler Felix Dorfin, while another inmate died in prison while awaiting his death sentence.
