[Deathpenalty] death penalty news---worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

May 7


CHINA:

Kiwi's China drug trial to begin



A young New Zealander facing drugs charges and a possible death penalty goes on 
trial today in China.

Peter Gardner, 25, has been detained in China accused of trying to smuggle 40kg 
of methamphetamine out of the country.

A trial for Gardner, a dual citizen of New Zealand and Australia, was set to be 
begin today.

It was expected to last no longer than 2 days.

Gardner's former boss Michael Kulakovski, earlier told The New Zealand Herald 
he was surprised to hear of the charges.

"He's a young kid who's got so much ahead of him, so it's shame if he gets 
convicted."

Gardner was a "great guy," he added.

The 25-year-old was expected to plead not guilty in a case that 3 judges will 
hear in a small Guangzhou courtroom, News Corporation reported.

"If he is convicted he will have 10 days to launch an appeal," Chen Yong, 
partner of Guangzhou Baijian Law Firm told News Corp Australia.

(source: New Zealand Herald)




INDONESIA:

Indonesian court postpones appeal of Frenchman on death row



An Indonesian court Thursday postponed the start of an appeal by a Frenchman on 
death row to next week, indicating the country's slow-moving justice system 
could delay his execution for some time yet.

Serge Atlaoui, 51, had been due to face the firing squad with 7 other foreign 
drug convicts last week but was removed from the list after authorities agreed 
to let an outstanding legal appeal run its course.

It was due to start at the Jakarta State Administrative Court on Thursday, 
however judge Ujang Abdullah adjourned the case to next Wednesday after 
Atlaoui's lawyer failed to attend as she was ill.

In the appeal, Atlaoui, a welder, is challenging President Joko Widodo's 
decision to reject his request for clemency, claiming the Indonesian leader did 
not properly consider his case.

A plea for presidential clemency is typically a death row convict's final 
chance to avoid the firing squad.

The latest legal bid is widely expected to fail -- an appeal filed in the same 
court by 2 Australian traffickers was rejected, and the pair were among those 
put to death last week.

However the Australians' appeal took weeks to resolve due to repeated delays.

Following Thursday's adjournment, a French diplomatic source told AFP: "The 
Indonesian legal process is following its usual course and that could take some 
time."

France stepped up pressure on Indonesia in recent weeks to abandon plans to put 
Atlaoui to death, with President Francois Hollande warning of "consequences" if 
the execution goes ahead.

Atlaoui was arrested in a 2005 raid on a secret drug laboratory outside 
Jakarta. He has maintained his innocence, claiming that he was installing 
machinery in what he thought was an acrylics plant.

However, police say he was a "chemist" in the drugs factory.

Indonesia's execution last week of 7 foreign drug convicts -- 2 from Australia, 
1 from Brazil, and 4 Nigerians -- sparked a firestorm of international anger, 
with Canberra recalling its ambassador from Jakarta.

But Indonesia stayed the execution of Filipina Mary Jane Veloso, who was 
supposed to face the firing squad with them, after the woman who allegedly 
recruited and duped her into carrying a suitcase hiding heroin turned herself 
in to authorities.

British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford, 58, is also on death row in Indonesia 
and said last week she feared her execution could be imminent and had started 
writing goodbye letters to family.

Widodo has insisted he will not change course on the death penalty, as 
Indonesia faces an emergency due to rising narcotics use.

(source: ionteraksyon.com)

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

Indonesia says tourism not hit by campaign over death sentences



The number of Australian visitors to Indonesia rose in March and the island 
nation's tourism industry has seen no impact from a Boycott Bali protest over 
death sentences passed on two Australian drug traffickers, a government 
official said.

Nia Niscaya, director of international tourism promotion at the Minister of 
Tourism, said however that figures for April, the month when the executions of 
a total of 8 drug traffickers were actually carried out, were not yet 
available.

Death penalty opponents launched the Boycott Bali protests after the 
traffickers, arrested in Bali, were condemned.

Visitors from Australia, with has deep commercial and political ties with its 
neighbour, rose 6.6 % to 84,400 in March, according to data from Indonesia's 
tourism ministry.

This increase showed the boycott had had no impact on Indonesia's tourism 
sector, Niscaya told Reuters. Figures for April were not yet available, she 
said.

Australia is Indonesia's 3rd biggest source market for foreign visitors, behind 
Singapore and Malaysia.

Tourism represents a small, but growing part of Indonesia's economy, generating 
receipts of about $9.85 billion a year, while total gross domestic product was 
$868.3 billion in 2013, according to World Bank data.

TOURIST VISAS

Indonesia aims to attract 20 million tourists annually within 5 years, which 
would be roughly double 2014's total of 9.44 million, Niscaya said.

The country's target for 2015 is 12 million visitors, which would be a 27 % 
annual increase, steeper than 2014's rise of 7.2 %.

As part of this push, the country will extend visa-free travel to another 30 
countries by the end of May, up from 15 at present, Niscaya said. These will 
include states from Europe, the Middle East and Asia, she said, predicting this 
would help attract an extra 500,000 visitors annually.

Niscaya said the government had raised its annual tourism marketing budget to 
1.3 trillion rupiahs, from 300 billion rupiahs previously, to help achieve its 
aims, while additional flight routes from the likes of Dubai-based airline 
Emirates would also swell visitor numbers.

"Not only from the Middle East but all over the world because Dubai is a hub," 
said Niscaya.

About 2.3 million tourists visited Indonesia in the 1st quarter of 2015, up 3.5 
% year-on-year, ministry data showed.

(source: Reuters)

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

They asked for mercy, but there was none



I can never understand why they had to be shot to death especially after they 
had repented and shown remorse

Like so many around the world, I was hoping Indonesian President Joko Widodo 
would pardon the 8 condemned at the last minute. They asked for mercy, but 
there was none.

I can try to understand their anguish but I can never understand why they had 
to be shot to death especially after they had repented and shown remorse.

At that moment my wife, Kim, happened to be reading an article by Wang Mingdao. 
She showed it to me. Then I understood why Jokowi could show no mercy. But they 
did not die in vain. All 8 refused the blindfolds. They stared death in the eye 
and sang hymns and praises to their God till they were cut down by the cruel 
burst of gunfire.

Indonesia, as in many countries like Malaysia and Singapore, imposes the 
mandatory death penalty for drug-related offenses even though there is no 
empirical evidence correlating the death penalty to crime reduction. This 
barbaric law has no place in our society, any society. There is absolutely no 
justification.

Given a chance, criminals can be reformed and even transformed as in this case 
of these 8. The sane thing to do is to give them a second shot at life but the 
law as it stands is impotent to do this. This is where grace steps in. Amazing 
Grace.

Immediately following their executions, the families of Australians Myuran and 
Andrew said in a statement: "In the 10 years since they were arrested, they did 
all they could to make amends, helping many others. They asked for mercy, but 
there was none."

Reading the article "The Relevance of the Atonement" by Wang Mingdao (1900 - 
1991), it became clear to me why the Indonesian law could show no mercy to the 
8 even though there is a provision for presidential clemency. They had asked 
for mercy, but there was none.

Wang, who was among the pioneering Christian leaders in China like Dr John Sung 
and Watchman Nee, was no stranger to suffering. Both he and his wife were 
repeatedly tortured in prison and labor camps for 22 years simply on account of 
their beliefs. Mrs Wang was released only in 1973, blind in one eye, and Wang 
in the end of 1979, old, toothless, and nearly blind and deaf.

Wang cited the case of a murderer who repented and became a Christian and who 
had been "completely reformed," yet was eventually executed. He too had asked 
for mercy, but there was none.

He wrote: "As we talked about this matter (with fellow Christians) I sat on my 
chair and thought ...Was God's law even more severe than man's? Was God not 
holier than man? And did not God hate sin more than man did? If that was so, 
was it not perplexing that one who had repented of his sin could be forgiven by 
God but not forgiven by man?"

He said, "I continued to ponder this question when suddenly an important truth 
lit up my heart like a flash of lightning." He continued: "The explanation was 
clear. God could forgive this man, greatly though he had sinned, because where 
God was concerned there was a Savior. That Savior had already accepted 
punishment and died in his place. Yet where the laws of the land were concerned 
there was no arrangement (indeed there could not be) for a savior to die in his 
place. So although he had shown contrition and had repented, it was till 
necessary for him to undergo the punishment ordained by the law."

Those who were executed asked for mercy, but there was none under the law of 
the land. However, when they asked for grace, it made the difference. A crowd 
of relatives and local Christians had kept a candlelight vigil outside and 
someone recited part of Psalm 23 - The Lord is my Shepherd - in Indonesian, 
"Sekalipun aku berjalan melalui lembah bayang bayang maut, aku tidak takut 
bahaya,kerana Engkaulah yang menyertai aku." (Even though I walk through the 
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for you are with me).

The 8 then walked to their death singing "Amazing Grace."

(source: Commentary; Bob Teoh is a freelance journalist in Malaysia and a 
former prison volunteer and missionary. He was formerly the secretary general 
of the Jakarta-based Confederation of Asean Journalists----rappler.com)

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

Antony De Malmanche had no translator or lawyer, drug trial told



A Bali drug squad officer has told the trial of an accused Kiwi drug mule he 
didn't seek a translator or lawyer for the accused man when he was first 
interrogated.

Antony De Malmanche was intercepted at Bali's international airport in December 
carrying 1.7kg of methamphetamine and he could face the death penalty.

He argues he was the victim of an online scam and didn't know the drugs were in 
his backpack.

Bali drug squad officer I Made Bayu told his trial on Thursday that de 
Malmanche was not questioned in the presence of a lawyer and was not offered 
one.

A fellow officer acted as a translator.

"Because I can't speak English, I asked my friend Ngurah Wirya to be the 
interpreter," he said.

The officer believed there was no need to fingerprint the drugs after de 
Malmanche said the backpack was his.

"The defendant had admitted that the bag was his," he said.

Outside court, de Malmanche's lawyer, Chris Harno, slammed the investigators' 
actions.

"If the fingerprinting was done, I believe you would find (the drugs) didn't 
belong to Antony," he said.

The trial continues next week.

(source: stuff.co.nz)

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

Every Mary Jane----Mary Jane is alive, but that fact pales against the bruised 
dignity of a public shaken out of its imagined narrative. The heroine is a 
harridan. The victim is a shrew. Off with their heads.



We know this story. She was born 30 years ago in a village called Caudillo to a 
contractual laborer and his wife. She dropped out of high school after her 1st 
year, was married at 17, had 2 children, was estranged from her husband, and 
left for Dubai to work as a domestic helper, only to return 10 months later 
because "someone want to rape me."

We know that she began looking for work overseas a year later, had gone back 
and forth from Manila to Nueva Ecija to meet with a placement agency. We know 
she was unsuccessful, until she was offered a job in Malaysia by a neighbor 
named Cristina.

We know all about Maria Cristina Sergio, the woman "all the village knew," the 
one who flew to Malaysia every week and came home with her luggage full of 
shampoo and lotion and perfume. We are told that the young mother of 2 was 25 
when she left Cabanatuan, that she thought "it was a blessing" when she packed 
her 2 shirts and 2 pairs of pants. We know she flew to Malaysia with Cristina 
and was told that promised employment was no longer available. She was taken on 
a shopping spree instead, was given a new suitcase when her clothes didn't fit 
into her backpack, and was told that a domestic position had opened in 
Indonesia.

The particulars of what happened in the Indonesian airport one Sunday in 2010 
are now part of our collective memory - the questioning in the terminal, the 
request for inspection, the emptied suitcase passing through the machine, 
twice, thrice, the blade cutting through the lining, the discovery of the black 
plastic bag with the brown powder wrapped in aluminum foil.

We know how it ended. The sentence was death, and of the 9 who were meant to 
die at Indonesia's Execution Island in the early hours of April 29, she was 3rd 
in line.

The battle for Mary Jane

It took 5 years on death row before saving Mary Jane Veloso became a national 
moral imperative. The interviews went viral. The government took action. The 
hashtag trended. The pressure surged. Public involvement pushed political will. 
Join the rally, sign the petition, write the letter, spread the word, demand 
answers, move, pray, fax, protest, send, tweet, hurry, now, today.

Have mercy, wrote the boxer in Las Vegas. Please, said the actress in Manila. 
Save the young mother, said the nation. Save the poor, uneducated, innocent 
daughter of a weeping mother.

For Neal Cruz she was the girl with the "innocent face" that "will break your 
heart." Her behavior, said Francisco Tatad, "was nothing less than a complete 
surrender to the "Divine Will." She was "a victim many times over," said Beth 
Angsioco, and there is "no reason to not believe this poor, unschooled, 
desperate mother who only wanted to do good for her sons."

The refrain played over the airwaves and across thousands of miles. In the 
month before Mary Jane Veloso was sentenced to stand before a firing squad, the 
world listened as Filipinos rallied behind the single cause of her survival.

Progressive party Bayan Muna condemned the national government's alleged 
inaction, and asked the Indonesian government for time.

"Everything," they said, "should be done to prove her innocence first, because 
it would be terribly wrong to execute an innocent person."

Of saints and heroines

We know their story. She is a 43-year-old mother of 4. She is a 14-year-old 
teenager who claimed to be 28. The death sentence might be a noose around a 
neck, or a firing squad in a desert, for crimes that may or may not have been 
murder or double murder.

The particulars of Flor Contemplacion and Sarah Balabagan's stories are 
uncertain. Both were sentenced to death for murder, Contemplacion was hanged, 
Balabagan was reprieved. Their lives were reenacted in cinema, and while 
television episodes and newspaper articles continue to revisit their stories, 
the stories have evolved and some facts remain in dispute.

What is true is that their stories fired the national imagination, building 
into massive campaigns and drawing support from the international community. In 
the last 2 decades, their names have evolved into metaphors for victimization, 
the extremity of their suffering illuminating the dangers of migrant work and 
the desperate condition of the very poor.

To tell their stories is to tell Mary Jane's, in an arc that is beginning to 
prove effective. She is poor. She is female. She was forced, by virtue of birth 
and education and a failure of governance, to find work far away from the 
safety of country and family, and was sentenced to death for a crime she did 
not commit.

Suppose we tell Mary Jane's story another way.

Suppose she were brassy-haired and sharp-tongued, with fading red lipstick and 
chipped stiletto heels. Suppose she had abandoned her brood of children. 
Suppose there were rumors of whoring and thieving. Suppose she didn't pray.

Suppose she knew about the 2.6 kilograms of heroin in the suitcase she rolled 
down Indonesian immigration. Suppose it is Cristina who is the victim and whose 
narrative proves true. Suppose Mary Jane was willing to risk her freedom for 
the few thousand dollars she was promised.

Suppose, just suppose, that Mary Jane Veloso is guilty.

The 'drug mules'

In 2008, Ramon Credo, 42 and Sally Villanueva, 33 and Elizabeth Batain, 38, 
were sentenced to death for smuggling heroin into China. The execution date 
came 3 years later.

There seemed, at the time, to be a public consensus that the 3 may have been 
guilty of smuggling. A 2011 blog entry by veteran journalist Ellen Tordesillas 
described a man-on-the-street survey shot by television show TV Patrol, where 
interviewees were asked whether the 3 deserved execution. Eighty percent 
answered in the affirmative.

Filipino diplomats were said to have described the 3 convicts as drug mules who 
were "recruited by transnational drug syndicates to act as couriers." CNN 
quoted the unnamed diplomats as saying the couriers were promised fees ranging 
from a few hundred to several thousand dollars.

"There is a stark difference between the cases of Contemplacion and Balabagan 
vis-a-vis the drug mules in China," wrote then law professor and University of 
the Philippines College of Law dean Raul Pangalangan in an Inquirer column. 
"For Contemplacion, accused of murder, we argued that she made her first 
confession without the benefit of counsel. For Sarah, a rape victim, we argued 
self-defense. In none of our pleas to China do we even plead the innocence of 
the convicted Filipinos."

There were protests, but the campaign did not carry the same weight as the 
crusade to save Mary Jane, a movement that cut across age, class and political 
ideology. Ramon Credo, Sally Ordinario-Villanueva, and Elizabeth Batain were 
executed through lethal injection on March 30, 2011.

"3 Filipino drug mules executed in China," read the Philippine Daily Inquirer 
headline. "3 Filipino drug couriers executed in China," read ABS-CBN News.

There is a double standard in place here, and it is a dangerous one. Headlines 
for Mary Jane's case do not refer to her as a drug mule or a smuggler. She is 
called by her name, or as the "Pinay on death row" or "OFW on death row." There 
is yet to be a local headline that reads, "Drug mule execution delayed."

Certainly no local headline read "Filipino murderer executed" after Flor 
Contemplacion was hanged.

Let her hang

For a moment - a short moment - Filipinos stood for Mary Jane, along with 
Indonesian human rights groups and world leaders and an international community 
aware that any country with the death penalty threatens all humanity.

On May 1, Celia Veloso, Mary Jane's mother publicly accused the President and 
his government of failing to protect her daughter.

The response was immediate. The administration defended its contributions. The 
left listed gaps in assistance. The Internet surged with the enraged, demanding 
blood over the family's ingratitude.

We should have let her die, they said. She should have been allowed to hang, 
they said. Her mother should hang with her, they said.

Our identity is marked by many things: peaceful revolution, free speech, gender 
equality, even our apparent and notorious sensitivity to disparaging jokes made 
on Desperate Housewives. Yet given the many and varied ways we have chosen to 
define ourselves as a country, this is one of the most important: this nation 
will not kill.

The death penalty is no longer in force in the Philippines. We have, as a 
nation, decided that the execution of any citizen is an act so cruel and so 
unusual that it can never be justified against even the most guilty. We call 
the premeditated killing of any man murder, regardless of whether that man is a 
pedophile, a mass murderer, or a political enemy. We are aware of the risk of 
innocent deaths and corrupted judiciaries. We know that the fear of capital 
punishment has never been an effective deterrent for crime.

In the end, our opposition to capital punishment is not so much about who the 
criminals are, but who we are.

It took only minutes for the crusade for Mary Jane to turn into a public 
lynching. Mary Jane is alive, but that fact pales against the bruised dignity 
of a public shaken out of its imagined narrative. The heroine is a harridan. 
The victim is a shrew. Off with their heads.

We know this story too.

Call in the cavalry

Even as we demand better from the government, the continuing saga of Mary Jane 
Veloso demonstrates just how conditional our own convictions are. We wax 
eloquent over the people we believe innocent, the inmates we consider victims, 
the narratives that appeal to our emotions, forgetting, perhaps, that the fact 
of being sentenced to death is a victimization in itself.

It should be that all that it takes for us to launch a cavalry is the prospect 
of a woman forced to stand before a medieval firing squad, waiting for a bullet 
to stop her heart. There are 92 Filipinos around the world on death row today. 
Some of them may be guilty, and some of them might be ungrateful, but the fact 
they are outside the country under laws that are not our own does not excuse us 
from the obligation of protest.

We've seen what public sentiment can do. The campaign is not just to free our 
own people, it is to make sure capital punishment is never made into law again, 
and to work for an end to the death penalty elsewhere.

If we continue to choose who to defend, which cases to pursue, whose families 
to pity, and for which deaths we need to hold the government accountable, 
people will die, and they will die on our watch. We may still fail, as 
Australia and Brazil and Ghana failed on April 29, but there may be one more 
dead man who will live because we tried.

We know this story.

(source: rappler.com)

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

Sir Richard Branson responds to smuggler on death row



Sir Richard Branson has responded to an appeal by a British drugs smuggler on 
death row in Indonesia.

Lindsay Sandiford, 58, from Cheltenham, who is facing death by firing squad, 
wrote to Sir Richard after he spoke out against recent executions.

She asked him to "help promote the fundraising effort my supporters have begun 
to pay for a final appeal against the death penalty".

Sir Richard said he was following Ms Sandiford's case closely.

"I strongly believe that the death penalty is a cruel and inhumane punishment, 
and every execution is one execution too many," the Virgin Group founder said.

"We are following Lindsay Sandiford's and other cases closely and fully support 
efforts that are currently underway to aid her appeal."

'Executed at any time'

Ms Sandiford has been in jail since 2012 after arriving in Bali from Thailand 
carrying drugs with a street value of 1.6m pounds.

Last week, she paid tribute on her Facebook account to Myuran Sukumaran and her 
"good friend" Andrew Chan, 2 of the 8 prisoners who were shot dead last month.

Ms Sandiford, who is originally from Redcar in Teesside, said she could be 
"executed at any time" as she did not have "any proper legal representation" 
during her trial.

She appealed to Sir Richard to use his "influence and position to speak out" on 
behalf of people on death row.

Another appeal against Ms Sandiford's conviction due to be put before the 
Indonesian Supreme Court was being prepared, her lawyer has said.

A campaign to raise funds for her appeal has raised just over 16,200 New 
Zealand dollars (7,975 pounds).

(source: BBC news)

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

Protest During U.N. High-Level Meeting to Condemn Executions in Indonesia For 
Drug Offenses----NY Action Outside U.N. To Protest Death Penalty in the Recent 
Executions in Indonesia For Drug Offenses



On May 7, the United Nations (U.N.) will hold a High-Level Meeting to discuss 
international drug policy, in preparation for a United Nations General Assembly 
Special Session on drugs in 2016. The Special Session will be the largest 
international drug policy event in decades, the 1st of its kind since 1998. On 
May 7, U.N. ambassadors, Ministers, and high level delegates from around the 
world will meet at the U.N. in NY to discuss achievements and challenges in 
international drug policy. In recent years, a growing number of countries are 
pushing for an open debate to discuss alternatives beyond punitive approaches. 
This movement was first lead by former Heads of State, such as Ruth Dreifuss of 
Switzerland, who will be speaking at Thursday's event, and is now being 
continued by current Presidents, especially in Latin America.

"The veneer of consensus that for so long sustained the failed global drug war 
and insulated it from critical examination is now broken," said Ethan 
Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. "The stage is being 
set for a new global drug control paradigm for the 21st century better grounded 
in science, health and human rights."

On the same day, groups will gather outside the U.N. to protest Indonesia's 
execution last week of 8 people for drug offenses. Despite repeated pleas for 
mercy from family members, citizens, human rights organizations, the U.N., and 
governments around the world, Indonesia proceeded with the executions. U.N. 
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has said that the U.N. opposes the use of the 
death penalty for drug related crimes, however, over 30 countries around the 
world continue to use capital punishment for drug offenses, executing thousands 
of people a year.

"The recent executions in Indonesia of people charged with non-violent drug 
crimes are abhorrent," said Mike Selick, Policy and Participant Action 
Coordinator at New York Harm Reduction Educators. "As the United Nations holds 
a High-Level Thematic Debate on drugs, we stand united with organizations 
around the world to demand action to end the use of the death penalty for 
non-violent drug offenses."

The groups, including VOCAL-NY, NYHRE, Drug Policy Alliance and others are 
gathering to protest the use of the death penalty for drug offenses and will 
gather at the U.N. entrance on the corner of 1st Avenue and 47th Street at 1:30 
pm on Thursday, May 7.

Earlier this week, a broad coalition of over 100 human rights and drug policy 
organizations released an open letter calling for a new approach to drug policy 
that emphasizes human rights over punitive policies and criminalization. It 
also calls for flexibility for countries to pursue new policies, including 
legalization, as well as eventual revision of the U.N. drug control treaties.

The signatories include the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch, 
Global Exchange, Drug Policy Alliance and the Ella Baker Center for Human 
Rights, as well as a number of organizations dedicated to health policy and 
AIDS services.

"Existing US and global drug control policies that heavily emphasize 
criminalization of drug use, possession, production and distribution are 
inconsistent with international human rights standards and have contributed to 
serious human rights violations," the statement reads. The groups "call for a 
significant shift in global drug policy in line with international human rights 
standards, and that prioritizes health, including access to medicines, 
security, and development."

(source: drugpolicy.org)



BANGLADESH:

Youth to hang for abduction, murder of 7-year-old boy



A Dhaka court has sent 27-year-old Md Jahirul Islam to the gallows for the 
abduction and murder of a 7-year-old Sifat Ali Tonmoy in Mirpur 3 years ago.

Dhaka's Women and Children Repression Prevention Tribunal Judge Tanjina Islam 
gave the order on Thursday with the convict on the dock.

Along with the death penalty, Islam was also fined Tk 100,000.

According to case details, Tonmoy was kidnapped on Mar 26, 2012 when playing at 
the field of Darus Salam Government Primary School in Mirpur.

His father Hazrat Ali filed an abduction case with Mirpur police later in the 
day.

Later, Tk 800,000 was demanded as ransom over phone. Detective Police traced 
the call and arrested Islam, a second-floor tenant of Ali on the next day.

Islam admitted that he had strangled Tonmoy since he was not paid the ransom.

Based on his confession, the body was recovered wrapped in a bag from inside 
the house.

The judge heard 17 testimonies before giving the verdict.

(source: bdnews24.com)



AUSTRALIA:

Bali 9: Most Australians oppose recall of ambassador to Indonesia over 
executions



Most Australians oppose the recall of the nation's ambassador to Indonesia in 
response to the executions of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, a new poll has 
found.

But 1/3 of those surveyed would support a longer suspension of normal 
diplomatic relations with Indonesia.

A poll of 1200 people conducted for the Lowy Institute for International Policy 
suggest Australians would prefer a restrained response to the executions, and 
are concerned about damaging Australia's relationship with its northern 
neighbour.

"Despite strong opposition to the death penalty for drug trafficking, it seems 
that Australians are cautious about taking strong actions against Indonesia in 
response to the executions," Lowy Institute executive director Michael 
Fullilove said.

In the poll taken between May 1 and May 3, only 42 % of respondents said 
Australia should recall its ambassador. Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced 
the withdrawal of the ambassador on April 29.

Only 28 % of respondents supported suspending Australian aid projects, while 27 
% supported suspending military and law enforcement cooperation and only 24 % 
approved of applying trade sanctions.

The option which attracted the most support was making private diplomatic 
protests, which was supported by 59 % of respondents.

When presented with a range of possible time periods and asked for how long 
Australia should suspend normal diplomatic relations with Indonesia, the 
shortest option, of 1 to 4 months received the most support, at 51 % while 34 % 
of respondents supported a longer suspension.

The poll suggests the executions will have little impact on Australians' travel 
plans or buying habits. When asked whether the executions would make them more 
or less likely to travel to Indonesia or buy Indonesian products, 63 % and 71 % 
respectively said it would make no difference.

When asked on the weekend after the executions whether the death penalty should 
be used as a penalty for drug trafficking, 71 % said it should not. A slight 
majority (51 %) said Australia should play an active role in pushing for the 
global abolition of the death penalty, while 45 % said Australia should not 
play such a role.

(source: Sydney Morning Herald)

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

Executed Australian's mother writes emotional letter to Indonesian 
leader----'Think for a second, one of your children is tied to post, and men 
are lined up in front of them and the fear he would have felt, and then your 
child is shot through the heart'



The mother of an Australian executed in Indonesia has written a heartrending 
open letter to the country's president, accusing him of "humiliating" the drug 
trafficker's family and ignoring repeated pleas for mercy.

Myuran Sukumaran, 34, was executed by firing squad with another Australian, 
Andrew Chan, and 5 other foreign drug convicts last week, sparking a storm of 
international condemnation.

Australia withdrew its ambassador to Jakarta in protest at what it called the 
"cruel and unnecessary" executions of the pair, who were ringleaders in a plot 
to smuggle heroin out of Indonesia.

Despite the global outrage, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has stayed firm in 
his support for the death penalty, insisting that Indonesia is facing an 
emergency due to rising narcotics use.

In an open letter addressed to "Dr Mr President, Leader of Indonesia and father 
of three children", Sukumaran's mother Raji described her son as "reformed" and 
"full of life, love and passion", adding he had helped many other prisoners in 
their rehabilitation.

"I just asked you not to order his death but instead you ignored me and many 
others," she wrote.

"I asked to meet you, to speak to you but once again you could not even have 
the courage to face our requests to communicate with you."

She said that in recent months she had watched Jokowi "openly discussing the 
way in which he would die, parading and humiliating our family".

"I want to ask you to put your family in my situation," she continued.

"Think for a second, one of your children is tied to post, and men are lined up 
in front of them and the fear he would have felt, and then your child is shot 
through the heart," she added.

Raji Sukumaran finished the letter saying she would pray "for the many other 
men and women whose lives are in your hands, especially those on death row.

"I pray that you will have the courage to look beyond the politics for they too 
have families who love them despite their mistakes."

The bodies of Sukumaran and Chan were sent home to Australia at the weekend, 
and are expected to be buried soon.

While the executions have cast a shadow over the often tense relationship 
between Jakarta and Canberra, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said he 
is confident ties will be restored.

(source: rappler.com)