URGENT ACTION - Indonesia: 6 executed, 9 more at risk

The Indonesian authorities executed six people by firing squad on 18 January. Nine more people are at risk of execution.

Rani Andriani alias Melisa Aprilia (Indonesian), Daniel Enemuo (Nigerian), Ang Kiem Soei (Dutch), Tran Thi Bich Hanh (Vietnamese), Namaona Denis (Nigerian) and Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira (Brazilian) were executed by firing squad just after midnight on 18 January. All were convicted of and sentenced to death for drug-related offenses. Five of them were executed on Nusakambangan Island while Tran Thi Bich Hanh was executed in Boyolali district, both in Central Java.

Amnesty International is concerned that more executions will follow. The Indonesian government announced in December 2014 that 20 people are scheduled to be executed in 2015. Nine men are at imminent risk of execution after their clemency applications were rejected by President Joko Widodo in December 2014 and January 2015. They are Syofial alias Iyen bin Azwar (Indonesian), Harun bin Ajis (Indonesian), Sargawi alias Ali bin Sanusi (Indonesian), Myuran Sukumaran (Australian), Andrew Chan (Australian), Martin Anderson alias Belo (Ghanaian), Zainal Abidin (Indonesian), Raheem Agbaje Salami ‎(Nigerian) and Rodrigo Gularte (Brazilian). They were convicted for either premeditated murder or drug-related crimes. Another two people have also had their clemency applications rejected.

Death sentences in Indonesia are carried out by firing squad. The prisoner has the choice of standing or sitting and whether to have their eyes covered, by a blindfold or hood. Firing squads are made up of 12 people, three of whose rifles are loaded with live ammunition, while the other nine rifles are loaded with blanks. The squad fires from a distance of between five and 10 meters.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

The following is further information on the nine men:

* Syofial alias Iyen bin Azwar, Harun bin Ajis and Sargawi alias Ali bin Sanusi, all Indonesian nationals, were sentenced to death by the Bangko District Court in November 2001 for the murder of seven members of an indigenous community (Suku Anak Dalam) in Merangin District, Jambi Province.

* Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, Australian nationals, were sentenced to death by the Denpasar District Court in February 2006 for attempting to traffic more than 8 kilograms of heroin to Australia in 2005.

* Martin Anderson alias Belo, a Ghanaian national, was sentenced to death by the South Jakarta District Court in June 2004 after being convicted of possessing 50 grams of heroin in Jakarta in November 2003.

* Zainal Abidin, an Indonesian national, was initially sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment by the Palembang District Court in September 2001 for smuggling 58.7 kilograms of marijuana. He was later sentenced to death by the Palembang High Court in December 2001.

* Raheem Agbaje Salami, a Nigerian national, was initially sentenced to life imprisonment by the Surabaya District Court in April 1999 for smuggling 5.3 kilograms of heroin into Indonesia at the Juanda airport, East Java province in September 1998. In May 2006 he was sentenced to death by the Supreme Court and was not able to appeal against his death sentence to a higher court, a right guaranteed by Safeguard No.6 of the UN Safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty, approved by Economic and Social Council resolution 1984/50 of 25 May 1984.

* Rodrigo Gularte, a Brazilian national, was sentenced to death by the Tangerang District Court in February 2005 for smuggling six kilograms of cocaine into Indonesia at the Cengkareng airport, Banten province. According to his lawyer, he has paranoid schizophrenia and has not been able to recognize or discuss his case with his counsel. International law and standards on the use of capital punishment clearly state that the death penalty should not be imposed or carried out on people with mental or intellectual disabilities. This applies whether the disability was relevant at the time of their alleged commission of the crime or developed after the person was sentenced to death.

Name: Rani Andriani alias Melisa Aprilia (f), Daniel Enemuo (m), Ang Kiem Soei (m), Tran Thi Bich Hanh (f), Namaona Denis (m), Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira (m), Syofial alias Iyen bin Azwar (m), Harun bin Ajis (m), Sargawi alias Ali bin Sanusi (m), Myuran Sukumaran (m), Andrew Chan (m), Martin Anderson alias Belo (m), Zainal Abidin (m), Raheem Agbaje Salami (m) and Rodrigo Gularte (m).

Issues: Death penalty, Imminent execution, Legal concern

Further information on UA: 305/14 (5 December 2014) and update (January 13 2015, 15 January 2015)

Issue Date: 30 January 2015

Country: Indonesia

Please let us know if you took action so that we can track our impact!

EITHER send a short email to uan@aiusa.org with "UA 305/14" in the subject line, and include in the body of the email the number of letters and/or emails you sent.

OR fill out this short online form to let us know how you took action.

Thank you for taking action! Please check with the AIUSA Urgent Action Office if sending appeals after the below date. This is the third update of UA 305/14.

Further information: http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA21/003/2015/en. If you receive a response from a government official, please forward it to us at uan@aiusa.org or to the Urgent Action Office address below.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Please write immediately in English, Indonesian or your own language:

* Urging the authorities to immediately halt plans to carry out any executions;

* Calling on them to establish a moratorium on all executions with a view to abolishing the death penalty and to commute all death sentences to terms of imprisonment;

* Pointing out that there is no convincing evidence that the death penalty deters crime more effectively than other punishments and that the decision to resume executions has set Indonesia against the global trend towards abolition of the death penalty and the country’s own progress in this area.

PLEASE SEND APPEALS BEFORE 13 MARCH 2015 TO:

President of the Republic of Indonesia

H. E. Joko Widodo

Istana Merdeka

Jakarta Pusat 10110

Indonesia

Fax: 011 62 21 386 4816 / 011 62 21 344 2233

Email: ppid@setkab.go.id

Twitter: jokowi_do2

Salutation: Dear President

Attorney General

H. M. Prasetyo

Jl. Sultan Hasanuddin No. 1, Jakarta Selatan, Jakarta 12160, Indonesia

Fax: 011 62 21 722 1269 / 011 62 21 725 0213

Email: humas_puspenkum@yahoo.co.uk

Salutation: Dear Attorney General

And copies to:

State Secretariat Minister

Pratikno

Gedung Sekretariat Negara RI

Sayap Timur Lantai 3

Jalan Veteran III No. 10

Jakarta Pusat, Indonesia 10110

Fax: 011 62 21 345 6189

Email: dumas@setneg.go.id

Also send copies to:

H.E. Ambassador Budi Bowoleksono, Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia

2020 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington DC 20036

Fax: 1 202 775 5365 I Phone: 1 202 775 5200 I Email: ikuhn@embassyofindonesia.org or

http://www.embassyofindonesia.org/contactform/contact-form.php

Please share widely with your networks: http://bit.ly/1KeNhxK

We encourage you to share Urgent Actions with your friends and colleagues! When you share with your

networks, instead of forwarding the original email, please use the "Forward this email to a friend" link found at the very bottom of this email. Thank you for your activism!

UA Network Office AIUSA │600 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington DC 20003

T. 202.509.8193 │ F. 202.509.8193 │E. uan@aiusa.org │amnestyusa.org/urgent

Report an error, an omission: deathpenaltynews@gmail.com

Oklahoma Sets November Execution Date for Air Force Veteran Jim Pavatt Amid Claims of Wrongful Conviction

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals has scheduled the execution of Air Force veteran and longtime death row prisoner Jim Pavatt for Nov. 12, as his attorneys continue to challenge his conviction and contend that prosecutors relied on false arguments, disputed forensic evidence and an alleged confession they later described as bogus. Pavatt, who served nearly 22 years in the Air Force and rose to the rank of master sergeant, was convicted and sentenced to death for the 2001 killing of Rob Andrew in Oklahoma City. His execution is scheduled for the day after Veterans Day.

Indiana high court sets Nov. 5 execution date for convicted child killer

The court’s decision came a little more than two months after Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita asked the justices to schedule Weisheit’s execution. State attorneys argued Weisheit had exhausted his state and federal appeals, had no active stay of execution, and could lawfully be put to death. The inmate’s attorneys opposed setting a date, saying they needed more time to pursue available legal proceedings and possible executive clemency. The defense additionally pointed to public records that it said showed the Indiana Department of Correction lacked the drugs needed to conduct an execution and had no lawful source from which to obtain them.

Hanging of Osaka Arsonist is Japan’s First Execution Under Takaichi Government

As a majority of the international community has abolished capital punishment. Japan and the U.S. are the only two countries in the Group of Seven leading industrialized nations that put people to death. The execution of Takami Sunao—an arsonist whose 2009 attack in Osaka killed five—on August 21, 2026, was Japan’s first use of capital punishment in just over a year. Over a Decade from Sentencing to Execution Takami Sunao was executed on August 21, 2026 , for a 2009 arson attack at an Osaka pachinko parlor that killed five people. In July 2009, Takami poured gasoline on the floor of a pachinko parlor in Osaka and set it alight, killing 5 customers and staff members and injuring 10 more. While the defense argued that he was in a state of diminished capacity, the Supreme Court finalized his death sentence in February 2016. The execution took place 17 years after the initial crime and 10 and a half years after the death sentence was finalized.

He Spent 27 Years on Death Row as a Wrongfully Convicted Man. What Comes Next?

23-hour solitary confinement. 115-degree heat. Jimmie Duncan is haunted by the decades he spent in Louisiana’s Angola Prison—and how, even after being released, he still isn’t truly free. Jimmie “Chris” Duncan wiped the sweat off his forehead as he assessed his temporary home from the parking lot of a rundown motel in central Louisiana. Sure, there’s drug dealing and prostitution, he said on a recent summer afternoon. And he suspected his neighbors were cooking meth on a floor below the room he paid $350 a week to rent.

Florida executes Harold Gene Lucas

Florida state officials executed 74-year-old Harold Gene Lucas by lethal injection on Tuesday evening, concluding a 50-year legal saga stemming from the 1976 murder of a 16-year-old girl in Bonita Springs. STARKE, Fla. -- A man convicted of killing a teenage girl who rejected his romantic advances and wounding two of her friends was put to death Tuesday in the first of three executions planned this month in Florida. Harold Gene Lucas, 74, was pronounced dead at 6:18 p.m. following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, authorities said. He was sentenced to death for the 1976 shooting attack on Jill Piper and the wounding of her friends, Richard Byrd Jr. and Terri Rice.

Florida | Jury recommends death sentence for Jeffrey Crum in killing of 12-year-old girl

BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — A Hernando County jury has recommended the death penalty for a 65-year-old man who was found guilty last week of raping and killing 12-year-old Jennifer Odom. Sentencing for Jeffrey Crum was held this week. Crum abducted Odom in 1993 after she stepped off her school bus in Pasco County. Her body was found in a Hernando County orange grove six days later.

Algeria's President orders Penal Code amendment to introduce death penalty with immediate execution

The president has raised the possibility that some of the fires may have been criminally set and ordered authorities to investigate their causes and identify those responsible. Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune has ordered amendments to the country’s penal code to allow the death penalty to be carried out against people convicted of deliberately setting forest fires, after a wave of devastating blazes killed 12 people and caused extensive damage across the country.

Florida set to carry out 14th execution this year in the nation's busiest death chamber

MIAMI (AP) — A Florida man convicted of fatally shooting a 16-year-old girl who rejected his romantic advances and wounding two of her friends is set to be executed Tuesday in the first of three lethal injections scheduled this month in the state. Harold Gene Lucas, 74, is set to receive a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison near Starke starting at 6 p.m. He would be the 14th prisoner put to death this year in Florida, and Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has already signed death warrants for two more executions set for later this September.

Japan executes man convicted of killing five in 2009 Osaka pachinko parlor arson

Japan on Friday announced the execution of a man convicted of killing five people after setting fire to an Osaka pachinko parlor in 2009, the first execution by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi 's government as the country faces growing calls for more transparency and the abolition of capital punishment. The Justice Ministry said Sunao Takami, 58, was hanged to death earlier Friday. Takami in 2009 set fire to the crowded pachinko parlor in Osaka by spreading gasoline and throwing a lit match, engulfing the building, killing five and injuring 10 others, Justice Minister Hiroshi Hiraguchi said.

Cartoons about Capital Punishment

More cartoons about capital punishment HERE

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog