INDONESIA LIKELY TO PROCEED WITH EXECUTIONS DESPITE PRESSURES by Fardah

    Jakarta, April 24, 2015 (Antara) - The Indonesian government is likely to soon proceed with the next batch of executions of death row convicts following postponement due to the Asian-African Conference's 60th commemoration in Jakarta and Bandung, on April 19-24, 2015.

        As the host of the Asian-African Conference, Indonesia welcomed over a dozen heads of state and government. It would be unethical to proceed with the executions prior to the commemoration, Indonesian Attorney General M. Prasetyo recently noted.

       Finally, on April 23, 2015, the attorney general's office issued the order to proceed with the preparations to execute the 11 death row convicts. 
  The order was issued for the prosecutors in charge of the executions, chief spokesman of the attorney general's office Tony Tribagus Spontana remarked in Jakarta, on April 24, 2015.  

   Spontana, however, refused to confirm that the latest issued order for the preparations and the transfer of Mary Jane to Nusakambangan indicated that the time for execution was now imminent.

        "It is not an order for execution, and it not a notification for the convicts," he said.

         The 11 death row convicts include nine drug convicts: two Australians, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran; three Nigerians, Raheem Agbaje Salami, Okwudili Oyatanze and Silvester Obiekwe Nwaolise alias Mustofa; Filipino Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso; French Serge Areski Atlaoui; Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte (42); and Ghanaian Martin Anderson alias Belo.

        The order came after the Supreme Court (MA) rejected an appeal from Mary Jane to review her case last month. She was arrested by Yogyakarta's Adisucipto port authorities for carrying 2.6 kilograms of heroin in 2010.

         On April 24, she was moved from the Sleam Prison in Yogyakarta to the island of Nusakambangan off southern Central Java, where the country had earlier executed several death row convicts.    
    In January 2015, the attorney general's office carried out the executions of six convicts on death row. Besides one of its own citizens, the convicts hailed from Malawi, Nigeria, Vietnam, Brazil, and the Netherlands.

        The executions prompted Brazil and the Netherlands to recall their ambassadors as a mark of protest.

        The second batch of executions this year were delayed on numerous occasions due to several reasons, including the applications for judicial reviews submitted to the MA by most of the convicts since their pleas for clemency were turned down by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).   
   "We are waiting for the legal process to be completed. There are still pending judicial reviews filed with the MA by Sylvestre, Serge Areski Atlaoui (of France), and Martin Anderson alias Belo (of Ghana)," Attorney General Prasetyo stated in March 2015.     
   He, however, remarked that the judicial reviews had no effect since whatever the verdicts would be, it was intended to ensure legal certainty in the future, and so, the execution plan would still be implemented.

        He revealed that the executions will be carried out simultaneously on Nusakambangan Island, as it will be more practical, and they could evade pressure from other countries.

        Indonesia has received strong protests against the executions from several countries. 
   French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius summoned the Indonesian ambassador in Paris, recently, to discuss the case of a French national facing death penalty for drug offenses, a government spokesman informed AFP.

       The summons came a day after 51-year-old Serge Atlaoui's appeal was rejected by the MA, thereby taking him closer to being executed by a firing squad for his role in a clandestine ecstasy lab near Jakarta.

         Earlier, the French ambassador to Indonesia cautioned that executing Atlaoui would have "consequences" for the relations between Paris and Jakarta.

         Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, whose citizen is also facing execution this year, refused to allow Indonesia's ambassador designate Toto Riyanto to take part in a credentials ceremony on Feb. 20, prompting the Indonesian foreign ministry to recall him in protest.

         The Indonesian foreign ministry summoned the Brazilian ambassador to Indonesia to convey its strongest possible protest to the unfriendly conduct by the Government of Brazil and presented a formal note of protest.

        Previously, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott noted that Australia would feel "grievously let down" if the executions proceeded despite the A$1 billion aid granted after the 2004 tsunami devastated Aceh and Nias in North Sumatra.

        Despite the pressures, President Jokowi recently affirmed that implementing the execution plan was only a matter of time, pending conclusion of the current legal processes.

        "When it will be done is no longer a question. It is only awaiting the conclusion of all procedures and the legal process, which I will not interfere in. It is only a matter of time," he stated during an interview with Antara at the State Palace on April 20, 2015.

        He remarked that the legal process was not under the authority of the president, and so, he decided to not intervene in the process.

        The jurisdiction and authority of the president is only clemency, and all their requests for clemency have been rejected, he pointed out.

        "I have said on several occasions that we are combating narcotic drugs," he emphasized.

        President Jokowi denied claims that the postponement took place due to political considerations including the possible impact of it on Indonesian citizens currently facing execution abroad.

         "There is no such thing. Our legal sovereignty and theirs must be respected," he affirmed.

        The head of state remarked that he was not afraid to carry out the executions despite pressures from various quarters including the UN, NGOs, and Amnesty International.

        Indonesia must be firm in enforcing its law on narcotic drugs, he added.

        He stated that 50 people died daily in Indonesia due to narcotic drugs, thereby adding up to the total of 18 thousand deaths every year.

        The fact shows that Indonesia is in a state of emergency, he remarked.

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((T.F001/A/BESSR/F. Assegaf) 24-04-2015 15:11:44