[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

April 28



INDONESIA----impending executions

Bali 9: Indonesia tells Julie Bishop appeals will not delay executions ---- 
Foreign affairs minister says a letter on Monday night from her Indonesian 
counterpart 'gave no indication that president Widodo would change his mind' 
and grant clemency



Indonesia has told Australia it will execute the 2 Bali 9 ringleaders, despite 
desperate last-minute appeals by the foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop.

Bishop received a letter from her Indonesian counterpart on Monday night but it 
offered no hope of a reprieve for Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, who are 
believed to be living out their final 24 hours.

"They gave no indication that president [Joko] Widodo would change his mind and 
grant the clemency that we have sought," Bishop told the 9 Network on Tuesday.

Indonesia has not said exactly when the pair will face the firing squad but it 
is understood the men's families have been told to say their last goodbyes by 
2pm on Tuesday (5pm AEST) before the executions are carried out on Nusa 
Kambangan, central Java, after midnight.

Bishop again pleaded with Indonesia to delay the executions after the 
constitutional court said it would hear an application by the pair, but not 
until 12 May. She said the men must not be executed until that case is heard, 
and until serious legal questions about the integrity of the men's trial were 
resolved.

"Both these legal processes could impact on the outcome," she said.

"They reflect the integrity of the sentencing process and the clemency process, 
and so we urge the Indonesian government to allow these legal processes to 
proceed, because of course executions are irrevocable."

Bishop said she was in regular contact with the condemned men and their 
families in what was a raw and difficult time.

She defended Tony Abbott, after celebrities produced a video calling on him to 
show leadership, step up and save "our boys", and travel to Indonesia to apply 
pressure on Indonesia.

"Clearly, if travelling to Indonesia would make a difference, we would have 
gone there," Bishop said.

"But that's not the advice that we receive from people who sadly have been 
involved in these situations before, and so I will continue to do what our 
experts say is the best we can do - to make representations to my counterpart."

She said the prime minister had spoken to Widodo about the case on a number of 
occasions, most recently in Singapore.

(source: The Guardian)

*****************

Execution date won't be announced - Indonesia



The Indonesia Attorney General's Office (AGO) has said it will not officially 
announce the date of the planned execution of nine death row inmates until it 
has taken place.

"The AGO has discussed it and we have decided that announcing the execution 
date before it is conducted would disturb officials assigned to carry out the 
process. The execution date will be announced afterwards," AGO spokesperson 
Tony Tribagus Spontana told reporters at the AGO headquarters in South Jakarta.

Tony explained that before the executions, the families of the 9 convicts were 
given the opportunity to visit them on the Nusakambangan prison island in 
Cilacap, Central Java, every day until 8 p.m.

Furthermore, he said the AGO had already received the convicts' wishes 
regarding where they would like to be buried; only Mary Jane Fiesta Veloso of 
the Philippines and the 2 Australian Bali 9 drug ring members, Andrew Chan and 
Myuran Sukumaran, wished for their bodies to be returned to their home 
countries.

(source: inquirer.net)

*********************

Mother of death row Australian says he'll be executed at midnight



The mother of an Australian drug trafficker on death row in Indonesia said on 
Tuesday he would be executed by firing squad at midnight.

"I won't see him again. They are going to take him at midnight and shoot him," 
Raji Sukumaran, the mother of Myuran Sukumaran, tearfully told reporters.

Sukumaran is one of eight foreigners due to be put to death imminently in 
Indonesia. Nationals from Brazil, the Philippines and Nigeria are also among 
the group.

Preparations are under way for the executions on the prison island of 
Nusakambangan, where Jakarta puts condemned prisoners to death, but authorities 
have refused to disclose when the executions will take place.

"I am asking the government not to kill him. Please, president, don't kill him 
today," she said, appealing to Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who has been a 
vocal supporter of using the death penalty against drug traffickers.

"Call off the execution. Please don't take my son."

(source: news24.com)

******************************

Indonesia To Execute 4 Nigerians Early On Wednesday----Indonesian court finally 
ruled a decision to execute 4 Nigerian citizens, ignoring pleas from the UN 
head, Amnesty International and foreign leaders. Inmates will be executed this 
week early on Wednesday, together with 5 other foreigners sentenced to death in 
Indonesia for drug smuggling.



4 Nigerians will be executed early on Wednesday in Indonesia along with 5 
nationals from other countries.

The last hours of 4 Nigerian convicts sentenced to death in Indonesia are 
running out this week early on Wednesday. They are charged with heroin 
smuggling and sentenced to death by Indonesian judges. In one of the cases the 
price of life equals as low as $400 - that's what has been promised to a 
courier for smuggling heroin in case of success. The convicts' last hours are 
running out on Wednesday just after the midnight as Indonesian court ruled out 
a decision on Saturday to execute them within next 72 hours, despite pleas from 
UN chief, Amnesty International and foreign leaders.

The sad stories of Nigerian convicts that have led them to the death row in 
Indonesia pretty much remind each other.

Martin Anderson, now 50, was arrested in Jakarta in 2003. He was charged with 
possessing about 1.8 ounces of heroin. Mr. Anderson also was accused of being a 
member of a drug dealer gang. He was shot in the leg during arrest and suffers 
from pain in the wound to this day. Mr. Anderson has filed an appeal to the 
Supreme Court, but his lawyer told that such appeal can take up to 6 month to 
be heard, so the appeal would not be considered until after he is executed.

Silvester Obiekwe Nwolise, now 47, was unemployed in Lagos, when his friend 
offered him a really good job in Pakistan. However, it turned out that instead 
of doing some job he had to swallow some small capsules, filled with goat horn 
powder, as he was told - and then fly to Indonesia. "They said they didn't want 
to pay tax on it," recalls his wife Fatimah Farwin. However, goat horn powder 
turned to be 2.6 pounds of pure Afghan heroin. Upon arrival to the airport in 
Jakarta, Mr. Nwolise was searched and X-rayed by customs officers.

He was arrested in 2001 and awaits execution since then after being convicted 
of bringing drugs into the country. His wife Fatimah, who is Indonesian, told 
that a judge was extorting from couple $22,000 for reducing penalty from death 
sentence to a prison term. Ms. Fatimah married Mr. Nwolise in 2007. She met him 
in prison while accompanying her friend who was visiting another inmate. They 
have 2 children, now 5 and 3 years old. Since then Indonesian police accused 
him of running a drug ring from inside prison, an accusation he strongly 
denies. "Some woman on the outside blamed him," Ms. Fatimah told press, "but 
when they came to his cell, they never found anything".

Okwudili Oyatanze, now 41, also known as The Death Row Gospel Singer, was 
arrested in 2001, for an attempt to smuggle more than 5.5 pounds of ingested 
heroin. While in prison, Mr. Oyatanze recorded around 70 songs with prison 
guards and fellow inmates. Native of Biafra, Mr. Oyatanze was running a garment 
business, which finally flopped. In desperate try to pay huge debts Mr. 
Oyatanze travelled to Pakistane to become a drug mule. However, he got death 
sentence instead.

Jamiu Owolabi Abashin, now 50, was a homeless in Bangkok, when his friend 
offered him a good job for $400. All that was needed from him is to deliver a 
pack of second hand clothing to his friend's wife in Surabaya, Indonesia. But 
it turned out that a package contained something more than used clothes. He was 
sentenced to life in prison for attempt of smuggling 12 pounds of heroin. The 
term was later reduced to 20 years. After serving 17 years in prison, he was 
sentenced to death when state prosecutors have challenged the sentence 
reduction in the Supreme Court of Indonesia. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon 
and Amnesty International have pled Indonesian government to cancel the 
execution but without avail.

Given the fact that Indonesia gave a 72-hour execution notice to the 4 
Nigerians, along with 2 Australians, 1 Filipina, 1 Brazilian and 1 Indonesian 
on Saturday, the inmates will face the firing squad very early on Wednesday - 
just after the midnight. 9 coffins already have been delivered to the prison 
where these inmates are being kept.

Recent survey shows that at least 4.1% of all defendants sentenced to death in 
the modern era are innocent.

(source: naij.com)

************

Nimbin to hold vigil for Bali 9 pair



A 'Joint Candle Vigil' will be held in Nimbin this evening to protest against 
the death sentence of Bali Nine ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

The Hemp Olympix organizing committee and the Nimbin Hemp Embassy are 
organizing the vigil.

Hemp Olympix spokesperson Chibo Mertineit said the protest would demand an end 
to killing, 'stupid police actions' and the war on drugs.

'We invite everybody to come along, especially victims of the war on drugs and 
medicinal cannabis users and light a candle.'

Mr Mertineit invited people to stay for the lighting of the 'Eternal Flame for 
the Victims of Prohibition', and join in 2 minutes silence.

The Nimbin vigil, at Allsop Park in Nimbin at 5.30 pm, follows similar 
gatherings around the country.

Candles were lit and paintings of the men were carried by about 50 supporters 
outside the Indonesian consulate in Sydney on Tuesday evening, while others 
gathered on Sydney Harbour.

About 10,000 flowers were used to spell out "Keep Hope Alive" on a hill 
overlooking the harbour, at an event organised by Amnesty International.

Lauded Australian artist Ben Quilty organised candlelit vigils in Brisbane, 
hoping to sway Indonesian President Joko Widodo's favour.

Quilty, a long-time supporter of Sukumaran and Chan, has called for the men to 
be pardoned.

"With his passing my world will take a dark plunge backwards," he said of 
Sukumaran.

In Melbourne a vigil was being held outside the Indonesian Consulate General in 
the CBD.

Many in Sydney said they came to show opposition to the death penalty and to 
add their voices to the plea for the men to be allowed to live.

"I'll be destroyed as a person if this goes ahead," Sukumaran's friend Kavita 
Krishnan told AAP.

"I had my moment of despair yesterday, but we've still got time, there's 32 
hours."

The vigils were organised after the Bali 9 ringleaders received warning they 
may face the firing squad as early as Tuesday.

(source: Echo Net Daily)

***********************

NZ concerned over Bali Nine executions



Foreign Affairs Minister Murry McCully says the Government will not intervene 
before the executions take place.

New Zealand could take diplomatic action against Indonesia if planned 
executions of Australian drug smugglers go ahead - but nothing will be done 
until after the executions have taken place.

Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran were part of the group of nine Australians - 
dubbed the Bali 9 - arrested for planning to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin from 
Indonesia to Australia.

The pair were formally told of their execution date on Saturday, in accordance 
with the 72 hour notice period required under Indonesian law

They - along with another 6 foreigners and an Indonesian national - are 
expected to be executed shortly after midnight [4am New Zealand time 
Wednesday].

Australia has made last-minute pleas on behalf of Chan and Sukumaran to delay 
their execution, as allegations of corruption had arisen.

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said he had already made New Zealand's 
opposition to capital punishment clear to the Indonesian foreign minister, but 
the Government would "probably not" approach the Indonesian government before 
the executions.

Australia was dealing with a difficult situation and needed space to advocate 
on behalf of its citizens without other countries interfering.

(source: stuff.co.nz)