[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 29



INDONESIA:

Indonesia ready to execute foreigners after rejecting clemency



Indonesia is ready to execute 7 foreign drug convicts on death row after their 
appeals for presidential clemency were rejected, an official said, in a move 
certain to set Jakarta on a collision course with international allies.

The seven include 2 Australian leaders of the "Bali 9" drug-smuggling gang, who 
have been on death row for almost a decade. The pair lost their appeals in 
December and earlier this month.

A spokesman for the attorney-general's office revealed late Wednesday that a 
further five foreigners have also lost their appeals. He said four were from 
France, Brazil, Nigeria and Ghana.

Local media reported that the 5th was a Philippine woman, and the foreign 
ministry in Manila said it was working to prevent the execution.

4 Indonesians -- only 1 of them convicted of drugs offences -- had also lost 
their bid for clemency.

"The attorney general's office now has 11 convicts on death row ready to be 
executed," spokesman Tony Spontana said.

Indonesia earlier this month executed 6 drug offenders, including 5 foreigners, 
prompting a furious Brazil and the Netherlands -- whose citizens were among 
those put to death -- to recall their ambassadors.

Drug offenders from Vietnam, Malawi and Nigeria were also among those killed by 
firing squad.

Despite his image as a reformist, Indonesia's new President Joko Widodo has 
been a vocal supporter of capital punishment for drug offenders, disappointing 
rights activists who had hoped that he would take a softer line on the death 
penalty.

- No compromise -

He has repeatedly vowed to show no clemency to drug traffickers. In a CNN 
interview broadcast earlier this week, Widodo vowed: "We are not going to 
compromise for drug dealers. No compromise. No compromise."

Spontana said a decision had not yet been made on when or where the convicts 
would be executed, only that more than one would face the firing squad in the 
next round.

The Frenchman is Serge Atlaoui, who has been on death row since 2007, Spontana 
confirmed.

In Sydney late Thursday, more than 2,000 Australians, led by local musicians, 
gathered in a plea for mercy for their compatriots facing imminent execution, 
Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.

Holding candles and signs reading "I stand for mercy", the crowd listened to 
speeches and live music.

"Don't kill him, please don't kill him ... please, president, please forgive 
him," Sukumaran's grandmother Edith Visvanathan told the crowd between sobs.

The Australian pair were arrested in Bali in 2005 and sentenced to death the 
following year for attempting to smuggle 8 kilograms (18 pounds) of heroin out 
of the Indonesian holiday island.

The rejection of their clemency appeals removed the final hurdle to put the 
pair to death, as Indonesian authorities said they must be executed together as 
they had committed their crime together.

Lawyers for the pair are planning a last-ditch appeal to their convictions but 
the attorney-general's office has said that further legal challenges are not 
possible once a clemency bid has been rejected.

The Frenchman Atlaoui was arrested in 2005 in a secret laboratory producing 
ecstasy close to Jakarta.

(source: Daily Mail)