Indonesia Set to Continue Firing Squad Execution of Drug Offenders
NUSAKAMBANGAN ISLAND, Indonesia, April 28 (UPI) — Indonesia is set to continue with the mass execution of nine men convicted of drug offenses via separate firing squads after rejecting last-minute pleas for clemency.
Friends and relatives of the men convictedvisited for the last time before the executions, which are expected to be carried out as early as Tuesday night. Ambulances carrying nine coffins arrived to the prison island of Nusa Kambangan.
“We are confirmed for the nine people to go to execution,” Tony Spontana, spokesman for the Indonesian attorney general’s office, said.
Of the men to be executed, eight are foreign nationals from Australia, the Philippines, Brazil and Nigeria. One is Indonesian.
Australian nationals Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan reportedly received their execution notices Saturday from the government, stating they will face a firing squad “imminently.”
Family members visited them for the final time Tuesday.
“I saw today something that no other family should ever have to go through,” Chan’s brother Michael said. To walk out of there and say goodbye for the last time, it is torture. No family should go through that.”
Earlier this year, Indonesia drew international criticism when it resumed capital punishment, and in response instituted a new procedure to notify the condemned at least 72 hours before they are executed. Drug trafficking is one of three crimes in the Pacific Asian nation that earns the death penalty, along with terrorism and murder.
Although there has been no official word exactly what date and time the convicts’ executions will occur, Australia Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said they would be “scheduled imminently.” She also said the government will continue to seek clemency for the men from Indonesia’s president.
Indonesia has one method of state-sponsored execution: Firing squad — a method considered by many internationally as cruel and inhumane. In the United States, firing squads are illegal in all states except two — Utah and Oklahoma. Utah banned the method in 2004, but will allow inmates who chose it before then to be executed in that fashion. The state also permits a firing squad if lethal injection chemicals are unavailable.
The men are part of what’s known as the “Bali Nine” — a group of Australian men arrested in 2005 for attempting to smuggle $3 million worth of heroin from Indonesia to their home country. They were all subsequently convicted, and after a long appeals process seven of the nine men ultimately received prison sentences. Sukumaran and Chan are the only members of the group to be executed.
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