Indonesia: No new hope for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran

Jakarta's successful diplomatic efforts to save Indonesians from the death penalty in other countries do not mean the two Bali Nine members on death row can expect a reprieve, the country's foreign minister says.

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the so-called ringleaders of a 2005 plot to smuggle more than 8kg of heroin from Bali to Australia, had their final appeals against their death sentences rejected last year.

They must now rely on clemency from Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono if they are to avoid the firing squad and are expected to lodge their applications later this year.

Indonesia was last year successful in saving the lives of 35 of its own citizens facing execution overseas.

"As for Indonesian citizens that have been (given) the death penalty, various diplomatic approaches were carried out at all levels, including by the president," Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa said on Wednesday.

"Among all Indonesian nationals facing the death penalty, more than 65 per cent were sentenced for drug offences and 31 per cent for homicide, the types of criminal offences that face serious consequences in many countries including Indonesia."

But in a worrying sign for Chan and Sukumaran, Dr Natalegawa also appeared to downplay suggestions the successful intervention in capital punishment cases involving Indonesians abroad translated into hope for the two Australians.

"The reality is in Indonesia, as in many other countries, capital punishment, death penalty, is still very much part of our legislation, our legal framework," he said in response to a question regarding the Australians on death row in Bali.

"What we need to be ensuring as far as Australian citizens are concerned, in the same way as our citizens overseas, is that their legal rights are protected, that in the legal process they are given the respect for the presumption of innocence and that the whole process (is carried out) in good standing."

He rejected, however, the suggestion that efforts to save Indonesians from being put to death while also continuing to apply capital punishment against foreign nationals amounted to a double standard.

The comments come after a spokesman for the Indonesian president said late last year that Dr Yudhoyono remained steadfastly opposed to leniency for people convicted of drug offences.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard raised the issue of clemency for Chan and Sukumaran, as well as the Gold Coast's Schapelle Corby, when she held talks with Dr Yudhoyono in Bali in November.

Corby has already lodged a clemency appeal against her 20-year sentence for drug trafficking.

Chan and Sukumaran are among 87 people on death row in Indonesia, of whom 50 had been convicted of drug-related offences.

A spokesman for the Indonesian Ministry of Justice and Human Rights Ministry said his department was working with the Supreme Court to carry out the executions.

The long delays in carrying out executions have meant some prisoners in Indonesia have been on death row for more than 40 years.

Source: AAP, January 4, 2012

Related articles:

Bali 9 duo Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan await final fate

May 20, 2011

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran ... "It's like bad luck to say anything," Myuran Sukumaran said yesterday, adding he was hopeful of a good outcome and happy Rush had been spared. But as for planning big events, like...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Death Penalty News: Bali Nine Ringleader Myuran Sukumaran ...

Jul 09, 2011

Myuran Sukumaran (left) Andrew Chan (right). Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has used his visit to Indonesia to raise the issue of 2 members of the Bali Nine who have lost their final appeals against the death penalty. Andrew...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Bali Nine pair Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran plead to live

Sep 21, 2010

BALI Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran (left) will appear in court as their final appeals against the death penalty begin. It is expected the pair will tell judges of their regret and their rehabilitation since...

http://deathpenaltynews.blogspot.com/

Comments

20 Minutes to Death: Witness to the Last Execution in France

The following document is a written record of convicted killer Hamida Djandoubi's last moments before he was guillotined in a Marseilles prison on September 10, 1977. This written record -- dated September 9 -- was written by a judge appointed to witness the execution. Djandoubi's execution was the last execution carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. Then-President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who had voiced his "loathing for the death penalty" before he was elected to office, flatly turned down Djandoubi's appeal for clemency and chose to let "Justice run its course", as he did on two previous instances ( Christian Ranucci , executed on July 28, 1976 and Jérôme Carrein , executed on June 23, 1977). Hamida Djandoubi , a Tunisian national, was sentenced to death for killing his former lover, Elisabeth Bousquet. He was executed in Marseilles' Baumettes prison in September 1977. The following text was writ...

Texas: Dexter Darnell Johnson to die on August 15; Larry Ray Swearingen on August 21

Dexter Darnell Johnson's execution is scheduled to occur at 6 pm CDT, on Thursday, August 15, 2019, at the Walls Unit of the Huntsville State Penitentiary in Huntsville, Texas. 31-year-old Dexter is convicted of the murder of 23-year-old Maria Aparece and 17-year-old Huy Ngo on June 18, 2006, in Houston, Texas. Dexter has spent the last 11 years of his life on Texas’ death row. Dexter was born and raised in Texas. He dropped out of school following the 9th grade. During the early morning hours of June 18, 2006, Dexter Johnson and 4 of his friends, Ashley Ervin, Louis Ervin, Keithron Fields, and Timothy Randle, were driving around in Ashley’s car, looking for someone to rob. The group discovered Maria Aparece and Huy Ngo siting in Maria’s vehicle on the street. Johnson took a shot gun and stood outside the driver’s side door, threatening to shoot Maria if she did not cooperate. Johnson demanded she open the door, and when she did, he threw her into the ...

Florida executes Michael King

Killer of stay-at-home mom whose death led to 911 reform is executed Michael King kidnapped Denise Amber Lee from her Florida home in broad daylight in 2008. If it weren't for a botched 911 call, Lee may have survived the ordeal. Florida has executed a death row inmate for the rape and murder of a stay-at-home mom whose death exposed the vulnerabilities of the 911 system nationwide and led to reform within the industry. Michael King, 54, was executed by lethal injection on Tuesday, March 17, for the kidnapping, rape and murder of 21-year-old Denise Amber Lee. King abducted the married mother of 2 young sons from her home in broad daylight on Jan. 17, 2008, less than an hour before Lee's husband returned from work.

U.S. | These States Don’t Want You to See the Cruelty of Their Executions

The use of the death penalty has risen sharply in the United States, with more executions in 2025 than any year since 2009. It is a cruel and unjust development. In theory, the death penalty is reserved for “the worst of the worst.” In practice, it is very different. People who are executed for their crimes are disproportionately poor or intellectually disabled and often lacked good lawyers. They are also more likely to be sentenced to death if they have been convicted of killing a white person. Anthony Boyd, who maintained his innocence until Alabama executed him last year at age 54, had an inexperienced court-appointed lawyer and was convicted on disputed eyewitness testimony. Charles Flores, 56, has spent 27 years on death row in Texas for a murder conviction based solely on unreliable testimony from a hypnotized witness. Robert Roberson, who has autism, remains on death row there despite having been convicted on now-debunked evidence that he had shaken his daughter to death.

Alabama | Death row inmate granted clemency shares emotional message on day he was set to die

Alabama governor commuted death sentence of Charles Burton, 75, who didn't kill anyone An Alabama man who was outside a building when a man was killed in an armed robbery is looking at life as "a gift from God" after being granted clemency by the state’s governor just days before he was scheduled to be executed. Charles "Sonny" Burton, 75, was sentenced to death for his role in the robbery of a Talladega AutoZone store that left a man dead in 1991. While Burton left the store before Derrick DeBruce gunned down customer Doug Battle, he was tried and convicted as an accomplice, with prosecutors insisting Burton acted as the group’s leader in the armed robbery.

Texas executes Cedric Ricks

A Texas man was put to death Wednesday evening for fatally stabbing his girlfriend and her 8-year-old son in 2013, apologizing profusely to her older son who survived with multiple stab wounds and witnessed the execution. Cedric Ricks, 51, was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m. CDT following a lethal dose of the sedative pentobarbital at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. He was condemned for the May 2013 killings of 30-year-old Roxann Sanchez and her son Anthony Figueroa at their apartment in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Bedford. Sanchez’s 12-year-old son, Marcus Figueroa, was stabbed 25 times and feigned death in order to survive.

Vietnam | 4 get death penalty in Ho Chi Minh City's drug trafficking ring

The People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday sentenced four defendants to death for their roles in a large-scale drug trafficking ring in the city. Those receiving the death penalty for "illegal trading narcotic substances" were Nguyen Binh Dai (born in 1988), Mac Vinh Khiem (1991), Thai Duy Quang (1990), and Nguyen Binh Trieu (1972), all residents of HCMC. In the same case, Tran Tong Dung, born in 1974, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for illegal drug trading and storage. Huynh My Ngoc (2002), Thach Ngoc Yen Vy (2001), and Nguyen Dai Nghia (1997) received life sentences, while Pham Thanh Phuong (1997) from An Giang Province was sentenced to 20 years in jail for illegally transporting drugs.

Missouri Man Said DNA Test Could Prove Innocence. He Was Executed Before a Court Ruled.

Lance Shockley died by lethal injection last year. State courts have rejected prisoners’ requests for DNA testing in recent years. Lance Shockley, a man on death row in Missouri, wanted items from the crime scene to undergo DNA testing to potentially prove his innocence. The court scheduled proceedings on his request — but the date set was for two days after his execution. Patty Prewitt can’t have her DNA tested — and fully clear her name — because her sentence was commuted and she is no longer in prison. And others, including Lamar McVay, who is serving 30 years for a robbery, can’t even get an answer from the state on his DNA testing request. He's still awaiting a ruling on a motion he filed in September 2022.

Iran hangs three men in first executions over January protests

Iran executed three men on Thursday who were accused of killing police officers during protests in January, with activists warning of the risk of a new surge in hangings as war rages with Israel and the United States. They were the first hangings Iran has carried out related to the nationwide demonstrations that were met with a brutal crackdown by the authorities. Rights groups said the trio, who included a teenager who had taken part in international wrestling competitions, were executed without a fair trial and had given confessions under torture.

Florida | Chadwick Willacy to be executed for burning Florida neighbor alive

A man convicted of the 1990 murder of his neighbor while burglarizing her home is scheduled to be the 6th person executed in Florida this year. Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday, March 13, issued a death warrant for Chadwick Willacy, 58. Willacy was in Marlys Sather's home when she arrived home from work unexpectedly. He struck her several times, tied her up, attempted to strangle her, and then set the house on fire after removing the smoke detectors and dousing her with gasoline, prosecutors said. Willacy's record to that point included some minor offenses in New York and Florida, mostly drug-related.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog