Unswayed by World Leaders’ Pleas, Jokowi Pushes Ahead With Executions

Indonesian gunboats guard the waters surrounding Nusakambangan

prison island where Indonesia carries out its executions.

‘Firm Stance’: Indonesia’s unyielding position on capital punishment has transformed into an issue of national pride

Jakarta. President Joko Widodo said on Tuesday the planned execution of 11 convicts on death row, most on drugs charges, would not be delayed despite concerted pleas from several world leaders. Instead, he warned foreign countries not to intervene with his government’s right to impose the capital punishment.

Joko has denied clemency to the death-row prisoners despite repeated pleas for mercy from Australia, Brazil and France, all of whom have citizens due to be executed by an Indonesian firing squad.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon made a similar appeal to Indonesia last Friday.

Eleven inmates are due to face the firing squad after Joko rejected their requests for clemency in January.

“I will say this firmly: no one may intervene with the executions because it is our sovereign right to exercise our laws,” Joko told reporters.

He said he had taken calls from the leaders of France, Brazil and the Netherlands about Indonesia’s use of the death penalty but made no mention of Australia.

Two Australians are among the 11 on death row.

The president did not say when the executions would be carried out.

In a special interview with BeritaSatu Media Holdings on Tuesday, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi asserted that Indonesia would not back down from its decision to execute foreign drug-trafficking inmates on death row, even despite risks of disrupting diplomatic ties with the prisoners’ countries of origin.

“Indonesia is always open [to suggestions]. Wherever I go, I always say that we’re ready to cooperate, to boost our partnerships with any countries and we’ve communicated with them under the spirit of friendship,” Retno said in her office in Jakarta. “But when it reaches a point where they offend our dignity as a nation, that is where we must take a firm and dignified stance [against them].”

The minister was speaking in light of a diplomatic row with Brazil and an increasingly heated dispute with Australia over the execution of a Brazilian in January, as well as the planned executions of another Brazilian and two Australian nationals slated for next month.

Indonesia ended its unofficial moratorium on the death penalty last month [January 2015] when it executed six prisoners, five of whom were foreign nationals.

Joko has repeatedly asserted that Indonesia is in a “state of emergency” concerning drug use, citing National Narcotics Agency (BNN) data, which claim Indonesia has over 4.5 million drug users. Between 40 and 50 people, the agency says, die every day from drug use.

Opponents of the death penalty have disputed these figures.

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Source: The Jakarta Globe, February 25, 2015

Will Widodo the Merciful Ever Have to Beg for Clemency?

229 Indonesians face death penalty abroad

The Foreign Ministry stated on Tuesday that there were 229 Indonesians abroad facing capital punishment for various crimes.

"Most of them are in Malaysia with 168 cases, Saudi Arabia with 38 and China with 15," stated the ministry's directorate for Indonesian nationals' protection and legal aid as quoted by Antara news agency.

The directorate also revealed that 131 of the cases were related to drugs, while 77 of them were related to murder.

"Regarding the drug cases, 112 are in Malaysia, 15 in China, 2 in Laos, 1 in Singapore and another one in Vietnam," the directorate stated.The Foreign Ministry had handled 9,290 legal cases abroad as of September 2014, with most of the cases relating to migrant workers and ship crewmembers.

Source: The Jakarta Post, February 24, 2015

Military aircraft to fly convicts to Central Java

Sukhoi jet fighters in Bali

Bali Prosecutor’s Office chief Momock Bambang Samiarso has confirmed media reports that the two Australians convicted of drug trafficking will be flown by military aircraft to Nusakambangan prison island in Central Java, where they will face the firing squad in the near future.

His announcement was a follow-up to a statement by Maj. Gen. Torry Djohar Banguntoro of the Udayana Regional Military Command (Kodam IX), covering Bali and East and West Nusa Tenggara, on Monday. Torry said that the Indonesian Military would deploy a squadron of Sukhoi jet fighters to escort the transfer of the two Australians, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, from Kerobokan prison in Denpasar to Nusakambangan.

“Yes, it has already been decided,” Momock said on Tuesday, without specifying what type of aircraft would be used in the operation.

Three Sukhoi jet fighters arrived in Bali from Sultan Hasanuddin Air Force base in Makassar, South Sulawesi, on Monday. The aircraft have been parked at the air base at Ngurah Rai International Airport. Colibri-type helicopters and CN-295 aircraft have also been seen at the air base.

The Air Force, however, has denied that the jet fighters are there to safeguard the transfer of the two convicts. A spokesman has described the arrival of the planes as a coincidence.

“We haven’t received any order to escort the death-row prisoners. The jet fighters are in Bali for a joint exercise with Air Force personnel at the Ngurah Rai Air Force base,” Air Force spokesman Air Commodore Hadi Tjahjanto said on Tuesday.

He insisted that the jet fighters were also conducting routine patrols securing Indonesia’s air territory and its borders.

“We’re also conducting the same patrols and exercises at Tarakan, Biak and Medan. These are routine patrols,” Hadi said.

However, Hadi added that the Air Force would always be ready if the government ordered them to secure the transfer.

“No matter what happens, we are always ready,” he said.

Eleven death-row convicts, including Chan and Sukumaran, are scheduled to be executed in Nusakambangan despite a global outcry.

Meanwhile, National Commission on Human Rights commissioner Natalius Pigai visited the two prisoners at Kerobokan prison.

He praised the contribution of the two Australians in teaching skills to other inmates.

“My conclusion is they are good mentors and have made a big contribution, especially to our people […] They have transferred their skills to thousands of prisoners since 2008,” Pigai said.

Chan and Sukumaran, members of the so-called Bali Nine gang of Australian drug smugglers, were arrested when they attempted to smuggle 8.3 kilograms of heroin from Indonesia to Australia seven years ago.

Source: The Jakarta Post, February 25, 2015

Island firing range where Bali Nine duo will meet their end revealed

Nusakambangan Island Firing Range (source: ninemsn)

This is the firing range where Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran will be executed.

The site is located behind a police station and near the water on the prison island of Nusakambangan in central Java, Indonesia.

It was inaugurated at a ceremony last November and is the same site where five drug traffickers were shot dead after midnight on January 18, News Corp reports.

The photo, taken at night, shows how the firing range will be flood lit for the impending executions of the Bali duo and eight others.

It also shows the targets the firing squad use for practice, with the round objects on the target posts set at the average height of a person's heart.

The earthen wall behind the posts is for absorbing rounds behind where the condemned men will stand.

Each victim will face their own 12-man firing squad, with only three shooters in each squad issued with live rounds.

The firing range is set well apart from the high-security prison where Chan and Sukumaran will spend their final days in isolation cells.

News Corp reports that 10 coffins have now arrived in central Java in readiness for the executions.

Source: ninemsn, February 26, 2015 (local time)

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