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

South Carolina | Inmate who believes he’s died repeatedly can’t be executed, judge rules

SPARTANBURG — A 59-year-old man sentenced to death for killing a state trooper in Greenville County in 2000 can’t be executed because of a mental illness that’s left him incoherent and believing he’s immortal, a Circuit Court judge has ruled. John Richard Wood is the first condemned inmate in South Carolina found not competent to be executed since the state restarted capital punishment in September 2024. The seven executions since then include three men who chose to die by firing squad — the latest in November. Wood, convicted 24 years ago, was among death row inmates in line to receive a death warrant after exhausting their regular appeals.

China | Man sentenced to death for murder executed in Yunnan

Tian Yongming, who was initially sentenced for a series of violent crimes and then had his sentence changed to death early this year, has been executed in Yunnan province following approval from China's top court. The execution was carried out by the Intermediate People's Court in Yuxi, Yunnan, on Tuesday, with local prosecutors supervising the process. Before the execution, Tian was allowed to meet with his family members. The case dates back to September 1996, when Tian was sentenced to nine years in prison for the rape and attempted murder of his sister-in-law. After his release on July 15, 2002, he plotted revenge against the woman. On the night of Nov 13, 2002, he broke into her home armed with a knife.

Idaho eyes restart of death row executions as firing squad draws near

BOISE, Idaho — Idaho’s prison system has nearly completed execution chamber upgrades to carry out the death penalty by firing squad as the state’s lead method and will have a team of riflemen ready to go by the time a state law takes effect this summer. As part of the transition, the Idaho Department of Correction hopes to limit participation by its officers as the shooting of condemned people in prison to death is prioritized over lethal injection. Toward that effort, prisoner leadership sought to implement a push-button technology to avoid needing IDOC workers to pull the triggers.

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

The following document is a firsthand account of the final moments of Hamida Djandoubi, a convicted murderer executed by guillotine at Marseille’s Baumettes Prison on September 10, 1977. The record—dated September 9—was written by Monique Mabelly, a judge appointed by the state to witness the proceedings. Djandoubi’s execution would ultimately be the last carried out in France before capital punishment was abolished in 1981. At the time, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing—who had publicly voiced his "deep aversion to the death penalty" prior to his election—rejected Djandoubi’s appeal for clemency. Choosing to let "justice take its course," the President allowed the execution to proceed, just as he had in two previous cases during his term: 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 execu...

Florida executes James Ernest Hitchcock

STARKE, Fla. (AP) — A Florida man convicted of beating and choking his brother’s 13-year-old stepdaughter to death nearly 50 years ago was executed Thursday evening. James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, was pronounced dead at 6:12 p.m. following a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke. He was convicted of the July 1976 killing of Cynthia Driggers. The curtain to the death chamber opened promptly at the 6 p.m. execution time. Hitchcock’s entire body was covered in a sheet up to his head. He stared at the ceiling as the team warden made a call, then gave his final statement.

US Department of Justice announces decision to resume federal executions

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Friday that it will resume the federal use of capital punishment and that it is seeking death sentences against 44 defendants. DOJ also said that it will use firing squads, electrocution, or nitrogen asphyxiation if the drug used in lethal injection is unavailable. The announcement follows the Restoring and Strengthening the Federal Death Penalty report, published on April 24. The report is especially critical of the moratorium on federal executions, ordered by Attorney General Merrick Garland in July 2021, to remain until the death penalty could be conducted “fairly and humanely.” Garland was concerned about the federal lethal injection protocol, which uses only one drug, pentobarbital, and the possibility that it causes “unnecessary pain and suffering.” In response to Garland’s moratorium and concerns, President Biden commuted the sentences of 37 prisoners on federal death row, leaving only three prisoners.

Arizona | Man who murdered pastor crucifixion style requests plea deal after parents killed in plane crash

Adam Sheafe, the California man who admitted to killing a New River, Arizona, pastor in a crucifixion-style attack, has asked prosecutors to offer him a plea deal that would result in a natural life sentence rather than the death penalty he had previously sought. Advisory council attorneys representing Sheafe sent a formal plea offer to prosecutors this week, about two weeks after his father and stepmother died in a plane crash at Marana Airport on April 8, according to 12 News. Sheafe, 51, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of William Schonemann, 76, pastor of New River Bible Church, who was found dead inside his home last April.

Iran to execute first woman linked to mass protests after ‘forced confessions’

Bita Hemmati and three others have been sentenced to death for 'collusion' and 'propaganda.' Advocates claim the charges are baseless, citing a secretive process and state-televised interrogations. Iranian authorities are preparing to execute Bita Hemmati, the first woman sentenced to death in connection with the mass protests in Tehran in late December and January, according to the US-based non-profit the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Judge Iman Afshari, of Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, sentenced Hemmati, her husband, Mohammadreza Majidi Asl, and Behrouz Zamaninezhad, and Kourosh Zamaninezhad to death on the charge of “operational action for the hostile government of the United States and hostile groups,” in addition to discretionary imprisonment period of five years on the charge of “assembly and collusion against national security.”

Texas | James Broadnax's appeals: US Supreme Court denies 2 claims, confession pending

Despite an 11th-hour confession from another man, James Broadnax is slated to be executed by the state of Texas later this week. Broadnax, 37, is scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection April 30 in Huntsville. He was condemned by a Dallas County jury in 2009 for the deaths of Stephen Swan, 26, and Matthew Butler, 28, outside their Garland music studio. Broadnax and his cousin, Demarius Cummings, had set out to rob the men, but left with only $2 and a 1995 Ford, according to previous reporting from The Dallas Morning News.

Florida executes Chadwick Scott Willacy

STARKE, Fla. -- A Florida man who set his neighbor on fire after she returned from work to find him burglarizing her home was executed Tuesday evening. Chadwick Scott Willacy, 58, received a three-drug injection and was pronounced dead at 6:15 p.m. at Florida State Prison near Starke for the 1990 killing of Marlys Sather. It was Florida's fifth execution this year. The curtain to the execution chamber went up promptly at the scheduled 6 p.m. time, and the lethal injection got underway two minutes later, after Willacy made a brief statement.

Death Penalty News

Search This Blog