May 1
HUNGARY:
Hungary says 'does not plan' to introduce death penalty, after PM's call riles
EU
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban "does not plan to introduce the death
penalty," his chief of staff Janos Lazar said Thursday, after strong EU
criticism of Orban's call for debate on its reintroduction.
Orban informed European Parliament (EP) president Martin Schulz by telephone
that the government would debate the issue, but "the prime minister does not
plan to introduce it in the country," Lazar said.
Hungary will "keep to EU laws", he added.
The EP confirmed in a statement that Orban had "assured the President that the
Hungarian government will respect and honour all European treaties and
legislation".
The controversy first erupted on Tuesday when Orban pushed for a debate on
bringing back capital punishment, saying existing penalties in Hungary were too
soft.
Orban's comments immediately sparked a sharp response after a series of spats
with Brussels over his hardline stance on human rights and civil society norms
- key values for the European Union.
Earlier, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker had warned Orban that he
faced a "fight" if he reintroduced the death penalty.
"Mr Orban should immediately make clear that this is not his intention and
would it be his intention, it would be a fight," Juncker told a press
conference, stressing that the EU charter forbids the death penalty in the
28-nation bloc.
Orban's junior coalition partner, the Christian Democrats, had also distanced
themselves from his comments, saying they opposed the death penalty.
Hungary abolished capital punishment after the end of communism in 1990,
fulfilling a key condition for membership of the European Union, which it
joined in 2004.
Orban's call for a debate on capital punishment was seen as a further
provocation after remarks last week in which he called the EU's immigration
policy "stupid", just after hundreds of migrants seeking to get to Europe
drowned in the Mediterranean.
The right-wing Orban, who has been in power for 5 years, has been losing ground
recently to the extreme-right Jobbik party which supports the death penalty and
is strongly anti-immigration.
(source:straitstimes.com)
EGYPT:
Death for soccer violence
An Egyptian court yesterday took a step towards imposing the death penalty on
11 men for involvement in deadly soccer stadium violence in 2012, in a court
session shown on television.
The judge referred the sentencing to Egypt's Grand Mufti, the country's most
senior religious authority, a step towards the death penalty, which could be
imposed at a later court hearing on May 30.
Soccer matches are often a flashpoint for violence in the country but the Port
Said incident was Egypt's worst ever soccer disaster, killing more than 70 fans
and injuring at least 1 000. Many of those killed were crushed when panicked
fans tried to escape from the stadium after a post-match pitch invasion by
supporters of the local side Al-Masry.
Others fell or were thrown from terraces, witnesses said.
In January 2013, a court sentenced 21 people to death in the case, but after
more than a year, the high court overturned the sentences and ordered a
retrial. The Grand Mufti's decision is not binding but referral is needed in
order to impose a death sentence.
The case could be subject to a further appeal which could take several years.
(source: Reuters)
INDONESIA:
Why Did Indonesia Just Execute 8 People for Drug Crimes?
Indonesia: Stop Imminent Executions
April 24, 2015:
Press release
The coffins for the condemned in Indonesia's latest round of executions are
finally being put to use on the country's remote island of Nusa Kambangan. On
April 29, Indonesian authorities executed 8 death row prisoners - 7 of whom
were foreign nationals, from Australia, Ghana, Nigeria, and Brazil, and all of
whom were convicted of drug smuggling - by firing squad. For the executioners,
it was a familiar procedure: Indonesia put 6 other convicted drug traffickers
to death in January, including 5 foreigners. (Non-Indonesians constitute the
majority of prisoners on that country's death row for drug crimes.)
The executions are a tragedy not just because of moral objections to the death
penalty. Despite Jakarta's defense of the death penalty as "shock therapy"
against drug trafficking, the alleged deterrence effect of the death penalty
has been repeatedly debunked. Most recently, on March 4, the U.N. assistant
secretary-general for human rights, Ivan Simonovic, stated that there was "no
evidence that the death penalty deters any crime." A University of Oxford
analysis concluded that capital punishment does not deter "murder to a
marginally greater extent than does the threat and application of the
supposedly lesser punishment of life imprisonment." That renders today's
punishments merely cruel and irrevocable.
Indonesia's current execution spree is no judicial accident. The archipelago
nation ended a 4-year unofficial moratorium on the use of capital punishment on
March 15, 2013, when it executed Adami Wilson, a 48-year-old Malawian national,
by firing squad. An Indonesian court had convicted Wilson in 2004 of smuggling
2.2 pounds of heroin into the country. Since then, Indonesia has executed a
total of 6 other people, all of them convicted on drug crimes. President Joko
Widodo, who took office in November 2014, has made the death penalty for
convicted drug traffickers a signature policy issue.
Widodo's death penalty policy and his stated refusal to grant clemency, citing
national sovereignty, have sparked a diplomatic firestorm. In March, Brazil
refused to accept the credentials of Indonesia's incoming ambassador after the
January execution of Brazilian citizen Marco Archer Cardoso for drug
trafficking. Brazil also furiously sought clemency for Rodrigo Gularte, who was
executed April 29 for drug trafficking, on the grounds that he had paranoid
schizophrenia and was "in a very deteriorated psychiatric state." The
Indonesian authorities refused clemency despite extensive diplomatic overtures
aimed to spare Cardoso's life. In a related incident, the Netherlands withdrew
its ambassador in Jakarta after the January execution of Dutch citizen Ang Kiem
Soei, who died alongside Cardoso.
The diplomatic fallout from Indonesia's burst of executions has most seriously
affected its relationship with its southern neighbor Australia. Canberra's
efforts to obtain clemency for two Australians executed today, Myuran Sukumaran
and Andrew Chan, prompted heated exchanges between the 2 governments.
Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott had earlier described how he is
"revolted" at the prospect of Sukumaran and Chan's executions.
Some of the international criticism of Widodo's death penalty policy comes from
perceptions of its hypocrisy. Despite the mass executions today on Nusa
Kambangan, Jakarta is devoting considerable resources to prevent the execution
of Indonesian citizens overseas. They include Satinah Binti Jumadi Ahmad, an
Indonesian domestic worker on death row in Saudi Arabia since 2010 for
allegedly robbing and murdering the wife of her Saudi employer. Jakarta sent a
formal appeal to Saudi Arabia's then King Abdullah to pardon Ahmad after paying
the entirety of the victim's family legally recognized "blood debt" -
equivalent to $1.9 million in late 2014. Indonesia has applied a combination of
diplomatic pressure and cash payments over the past 3 years to secure
commutation of death sentences for 189 Indonesians facing execution overseas -
the crimes for those granted clemency include drug trafficking.
Widodo's death penalty policy also doesn't withstand international legal
scrutiny. Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, which Indonesia acceded to in 2006, restricts the use of the death
penalty to only "the most serious crimes" which the United Nations has defined
as "intentional crimes with lethal or other extremely grave consequences." The
United Nations Human Rights Committee and the U.N. expert on unlawful killings,
Christof Heyns, have condemned using the death penalty in drug cases.
All this makes Indonesia's use of the death penalty for drug-related
convictions particularly odious and wrongheaded. But Widodo need not look far
afield for inspiration on how to resolve the worsening furor over his death
penalty policy. On February 13, Fiji became the 99th country to abolish the
death penalty, leaving Indonesia in the ranks of the 58 states, which retain
it. For Widodo, it is time to recognize the well-documented failure of the
death penalty as a crime deterrent and join the growing number of countries
that have abolished capital punishment. Until he does, they'll need more
caskets on Nusa Kambangan.
(source: Phelim Kine is deputy director for the Asia division at Human Rights
Watch)
**************************
Indonesia Executes Man With Schizophrenia
Indonesia's Attorney General HM Prasetyo has high praise for the April 29
executions of 8 people on the country's death penalty island of Nusa Kambangan,
even saying the executions were "better, more orderly and more perfect" than
those of 6 people in January.
That sunny appraisal suggests Prasetyo is unaware of the last moments of
Rodrigo Gularte, a Brazilian national executed for drug trafficking. Gularte
didn't realize that he was about to die until the final minutes before he went
before the firing squad, a Catholic priest who had counselled him said. That
lack of understanding was no herculean act of denial. It was because Gularte
reportedly had bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia and simply didn't
understand the gravity of his situation until the very end. A Brazilian
diplomat likewise described Gularte in "a very deteriorated psychiatric state"
in the lead-up to his execution.
Indonesia's death penalty spree, powered by President Joko Widodo's
wrong-headed belief in the deterrent effect of the death penalty, is already a
barbaric punishment inconsistent with international human rights law,
statements of United Nations human rights experts, and various UN bodies. Human
rights law upholds every human being's "inherent right to life" and limits the
death penalty to "the most serious crimes," typically crimes resulting in death
or serious bodily harm.
But the apparent willingness of the Indonesian authorities to disregard medical
evidence of Gularte's apparent psychosocial disability is an appalling
violation of both Indonesian law and international human rights standards. The
UN Commission on Human Rights adopted resolutions in 1999 and 2000 urging
countries that retain the death penalty not to impose it "on a person suffering
from any form of mental disorder." Article 44 of Indonesia's Penal Code
excludes from criminal punishment any person demonstrating "disorder of his
mental capacities."
Gularte's execution should prompt an urgent inquiry into this affront to basic
dignity. It reinforces the need for the Indonesian government to impose an
immediate moratorium on the death penalty and move toward eventual abolition.
Until it does, the Indonesian government's death penalty "shock therapy"
against convicted drug traffickers will risk yet more unlawful deaths.
(source: Human Rights Watch)
*********************
Indonesian envoy explains execution of 4 Nigerians
The Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia to Nigeria, Harry Purwanto, in a
meeting summoned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday, gave reasons why
the country went ahead to execute 4 Nigerians and other nationals convicted on
drug offences on Tuesday. .
According to him, the execution was in order since it was strictly done
according to legal proceedings.
Purwanto said: "There was nothing we could do for those 4 Nigerians, because
every legal process was completed and only then did the government of Indonesia
implement the decision of the court."
According to him, the case has been on for 10 years, and Indonesia needed to
make sure that adequate opportunity was given to the convicts within the bounds
of the law, stressing that his government suspended the moratorium on death
penalty due to the gravity and dangerous impact of drugs on their country.
He disclosed that Indonesia suffers from the harsh reality of the drug
trafficking as about 4.5 million of their citizens especially the youth, are
affected by the narcotics adding that only about 1.8 million of them have been
rehabilitated.
He further said that between 33 and 50 victims of the drugs die every month
describing it as unfortunate.
On the possibility of Prisoner Transfer Agreement between both countries, Mr.
Purwanto said, "Actually, Indonesia will be happy to do that; but,
unfortunately we do not have the legal basis, we have to wait for a new
legislation in Indonesia but then we have to convince our members of parliament
to do that."
Reacting to the incident, the Undersecretary Economic and Consular Affairs
Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bokunolu Onemola,
said although the Federal Government protested the executions on the basis of
subsisting friendly relations between both countries, Nigerians should desist
from drug trafficking, especially in countries where capital punishment is
being implemented.
He added that Nigeria would not recall its ambassador to Indonesia over the
executions.
Jamiu Owolabi Abashin, 50, Martin Anderson, 50, Okwudili Oyatanze, 41, and
Sylvester Obiekwe Nwolise, 47, were executed on Tuesday in Indonesia.
(source: Nigerian Guardian )
**************************
Indonesia mulls over 3rd round of execution of death row convicts
Indonesia's Attorney General's Office (AGO) will make an evaluation next week
on whether to proceed with executing more death-row convicts in the near future
after the 2 recent groups of executions drew international outcry.
AGO spokesman Tony Spontana said convicts set to be included in the execution
list would be those who had exhausted all their legal attempts to avoid the
penalty.
"An evaluation of the recent executions will be thoroughly evaluated next week.
After that we will determine whether to proceed with the third round of
executions in the near future, and the list of convicts who will face the
firing squad," he said.
More than 162 death row convicts are currently awaiting their fate. Of the
figure, 73 convicts are murderers while 89 are drug traffickers. The list
excludes terrorist inmates, according to the AGO.
(source: Straits Times)
*******************
Indonesia Needs the Death Penalty to Deter Drug Traffickers
Indonesia's spiraling drug problem is the main reason why Jokowi should
maintain his tough anti-drug stance.
International pressure has mounted on Indonesia in recent months to stop its
enforcement of the death penalty. In January, Indonesian President Joko Widodo
- known as Jokowi - ordered the execution of 6 convicted drug traffickers, 5 of
whom were foreign nationals. Another group, including Australian duo Andrew
Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, was executed on the island of Nusakambangan on April
28, as various legal appeals had been exhausted.
Despite international concern, Jokowi should maintain his tough anti-drug
stance for a number of reasons. Indonesia's drug problem is a state of
emergency. It holds a sovereign right to enforce the law within its territory,
and its enforcement of death penalty does not violate international law.
Millions of people are affected by drugs in Indonesia. According to the
National Agency for Narcotics (BNN), 1 million people are addicted to drugs
with little chance of recovery. Around 1.6 million people occasionally take
drugs, while 1.4 million are regular consumers.
Indonesia is Southeast Asia's drug hub. The BNN, along with customs and police,
has confiscated large quantities of drugs. In January, the police found 8.1
kilograms of crystal methamphetamine. In 2014, the BNN impounded 157 kilograms
of crystal meth in a drug bust in Jakarta, and in 2013, the police seized 9.9
kilograms of crystal meth.
Each day, more than 30 people die of drugs, according to BNN estimates. Some
observers have challenged the accuracy of data provided by the BNN, doubting
the government's claim that Indonesia is facing a drug crisis that warrants the
execution of convicted drug traffickers. However, these considerations should
not divert attention from Indonesia's efforts to combat drug abuse.
Indonesia's estimates on drug use were jointly produced by the BNN and a
reputable research center, the University of Indonesia's Center for Health
Research. They used scientifically-based research methodologies and have
considered the margin of error carefully in their studies.
So far, Indonesia does not have any data other than the BNN's 2008 studies.
Experts admit that new data will provide stronger estimates than what is
currently available. However, conducting a survey on Indonesia's large
population is not easy.
IndonesiaWe cannot ignore the victims of drug abuse just because the harm
cannot be accurately quantified. It is better to believe the worst situation of
drug abuse based on the BNN's data and by looking at the realities in
Indonesian communities.
In a personal interview, the head of the BNN said the government has allocated
additional funding to reduce the demand for drugs. Under a new policy, drug
users are not sent to jail but sentenced to mandatory rehabilitation. The
program targets at least 100,000 people to recover from drug addiction a year.
Under this policy, no drug user will be sent to prison. Only those who trade
and gain profit from illegal drugs will be criminalized.
Indonesia's move to enforce the death penalty on convicted drug traffickers is
protected by the principle of state sovereignty. Under this principle,
Indonesia has the freedom to make and apply laws within its territory and on
its citizens wherever they are, without any interference from other states or
entities. Since the development of international law, the concept of state
sovereignty has been the main foundation of the system of relationships between
countries.
Indonesia is a party to the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic
in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. In addition, to ensure the
fulfilment of its human rights, Indonesia has become a party to the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
As part of the implementation of its international obligations, Indonesia has
enacted several anti-drug laws, including Law No.35 of 2009 on Narcotics and
Law No.5 of 1997 on Psychotropic Substances.
Indonesia has the authority to enforce these laws on anyone, including foreign
nationals in its territory. Other states must not pressure or interfere in
Indonesia's domestic application of the law. If other states intervene, it can
be considered a violation of customary international law, which gives the right
for Indonesia to retaliate to redress interventions.
Compliance With International Law
Indonesia is not violating international law in upholding the death penalty.
Under the anti-drug trafficking convention, Indonesia is still allowed to apply
the maximum penalty as deemed appropriate by the state to provide a deterrent
to drug trafficking crime.
Indonesia has enshrined the death penalty into law in its 2009 anti-drug
legislation. And in a 2007 judicial review, the Constitutional Court ruled that
the death penalty was in line with Indonesia's constitution.
Some human rights activists argue that Indonesia is obliged to respect the
right to life as stipulated under the ICCPR. They suggest Indonesia should
abolish the death penalty. But the country provides all death row convicts
equal opportunities to appeal. And after all legal proceedings have been
completed, people on death row can request clemency to the president.
Some observers have indicated that some courts' procedures and rulings have
been corrupted. But we cannot generalize the whole proceedings of Indonesian
courts to be corrupt. Notorious decisions based on fraud and corruption were
committed by small number of judges. Indonesia's legal system is not perfect,
but the country is not a failed state in upholding the rule of law.
Indonesia's stance on the death penalty is in accordance with Article 6
Paragraph 2 of the ICCPR, which states that countries may impose the death
sentence "only for the most serious crimes in accordance with the law in force
at the time of the commission of the crime."
Some might disagree and condemn the execution of convicts before the firing
squad. However, we should also think about the victims of drug abuse who have
died and those who are now suffering.
Considering the grave threat that drugs pose to Indonesia's younger
generations, the Indonesian government should continue its forceful policy
against drug-related crimes.
(source: Arie Afriansyah, fairobserver.com)
*******************
Bali 9 clemency deal ignored ----The Indonesian President's chief political
rival promised to publicly support Joko Widodo if he granted clemency to Bali 9
ringleaders Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
The West Australian can reveal that military strongman Prabowo Subianto twice
privately assured Mr Joko there would be no political consequences if Chan,
Sukumaran and eight others on death row were reprieved.
Mr Prabowo's extraordinary behind-the-scenes intervention would have given the
President face-saving political cover to spare the lives of Chan and Sukumaran.
It is understood that Mr Prabowo penned a letter to Mr Joko at the weekend in
which he said that if the President were to "postpone the executions
indefinitely", he would come out in support of the decision.
Mr Joko, under pressure from his political patron, former president Megawati
Sukarnoputri, ignored the offer and the 2 Australians were killed by firing
squad on Wednesday, along with 4 Nigerians, a Brazilian and an Indonesian.
2 people, a Frenchman and a Filipina woman, got late reprieves. Chan and
Sukumaran's bodies were expected to be flown back to Australia today or
tomorrow.
As reported by The West Australian in March, Australian diplomats sought Mr
Prabowo's help to save Chan and Sukumaran, believing the former general could
engineer a change of heart.
Mr Prabowo, the son-in-law of former dictator Suharto, narrowly lost last
year's presidential race to Mr Joko but still wields great influence over
Indonesia's Parliament and political system.
To Australian observers, Mr Prabowo had a much better grasp of the
international repercussions for Indonesia if the executions went ahead.
The Abbott Government fears relations might not be fully restored until Mr
Joko's term ends, in the same way that Australia's relationship with Malaysia
did not properly thaw until Mahathir Mohamad retired, 10 years after Paul
Keating called Dr Mahathir "recalcitrant" for not attending the APEC summit. Mr
Joko does not face another election until 2019.
Publicly, Mr Prabowo has said he supports the death penalty but that Indonesia
should have a "flexible" approach. He told an Indonesian news website in March
that Australia was "performing its duty" by wanting Chan and Sukumaran's death
sentences overturned.
Independent senator Nick Xenophon had for some time favoured lobbying Mr
Prabowo.
"I was urged by my human rights contacts in Indonesia that this would have been
worthwhile exploring," Senator Xenophon said.
"But I can understand the risks involved in such a strategy."
Though the majority of Indonesians wanted the condemned prisoners executed,
some media outlets urged Mr Joko to first review each case.
"Backpedalling may be in the best interest of Joko and the nation," the Jakarta
Globe newspaper said in its editorial this week.
"There is no shame in accepting and correcting one's mistake. This is not a
sign of weakness. Rather, it is a sign of greatness.
"This is wisdom that will put him as a great leader."
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop lashed out at suggestions yesterday that the
Government had made it easier for the Australian Federal Police to work with
foreign governments in cases where the death penalty could be applied.
In 2014, Justice Minister Michael Keenan omitted any reference to Australia's
opposition to the death penalty when laying out a mission statement on how the
AFP should behave.
Labor questioned whether the Government had again opened the door to allowing
the AFP to help another country pursue an Australian in a death penalty case.
Ms Bishop blasted Labor, saying it had deliberately twisted an innocuous
document for political gain.
She said the AFP still had clear guidelines laying out what assistance could be
given in death penalty cases and nothing had changed since Labor was in power.
The AFP is under pressure to explain why it tipped off Indonesian police about
the Bali 9 drug smuggling operation in 2005 when there was a chance the death
penalty could be imposed.
(source: Yahoo news)
******************
Govt mulling 3rd round of executions
The Attorney General's Office (AGO) will make an evaluation next week whether
to proceed with executing more death-row convicts in the near future after the
2 recent batches of executions drew international outcry. AGO spokesman Tony
Spontana said convicts set to be included in the execution list would be those
who had exhausted all their legal attempts to avoid the penalty.
"An evaluation of the recent executions will be thoroughly evaluated next week.
After that we will determine whether to proceed with the 3rd round of
executions in the near future, and the list of convicts who will face the
firing squad," he said.
More than 162 death row convicts are currently awaiting their fate.
Of the figure, 73 convicts are murderers while 89 are drug traffickers. The
list excludes terrorist inmates, according to the AGO.
Citizens of the UK, the Netherlands, France, Nigeria, Malaysia and China are
among the death row convicts. Early on Wednesday, the government executed 8
inmates from Indonesia, Australia, Brazil, Nigeria and Ghana.
The executions were the 2nd round after the 1st was carried out on Jan. 18,
during which 6 inmates from Indonesia, the Netherlands, Brazil, Nigeria,
Vietnam and Malawi were killed by firing squad.
(source: The Jakarta Post)
******************
"Welcome to Indonesia, Death Penalty for Drug Traffickers!" ---- Why the
country's new president is executing more foreigners, despite international
outrage
Shortly after boarding an Indonesian domestic flight, the voice of an
air-stewardess will flood the intercom, sweetly informing you, in Indonesian
and then again in broken English, that the penalty for transiting drugs is
death. When you arrive at the airport in Jakarta, you will pass under a crimson
banner that announces, "Welcome to Indonesia, Death Penalty for Drug
Traffickers!"
But when Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, Indonesia's reformist new president, was
inaugurated last October, it was not clear whether these warnings were still
current. His predecessor, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, had executed people
sparingly, even placing an unofficial 4-year moratorium on executions during
his 2nd term. As a result, when Jokowi took office, there were as many as 65
convicts on death row for drug offenses alone, including as estimated 45
foreigners.
Yudhoyono had been criticized in the Indonesian press for bowing to foreign
pressure and commuting the sentences of foreign drug traffickers. Eager to
distinguish himself, Jokowi declared shortly after assuming office that there
was a "national emergency" surrounding drugs - which, he claimed with little
evidence, took 50 Indonesian lives a day. His administration insisted that only
the death penalty would deter drug traffickers. 3 months later, in January,
Jokowi proceeded with the 1st wave of mass executions; 6 drug offenders,
including 5 foreigners, were killed by firing squad.
Just after midnight Wednesday morning, 8 more drug offenders were executed. Of
those, the highest profile were a Brazilian man with paranoid schizophrenia
who, according to his pastor, went to his death unaware that he was being
executed, and 2 Australian men whose impending deaths inspired nationwide
vigils back home and an extraordinary public campaign to have them freed (the
duo had admitted to trying to smuggle 18.5 pounds of heroin). In a video
titled, "Save our Boys, Mr. Abbott," a series of Australian celebrities had
demanded that Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot find a way to bring Andrew
Chan and Myuran Sukamaran home. "Tony if you had any courage and compassion
you'd get over to Indonesia and bring these 2 boys home," said one. "Show some
balls."
The executions of all but one of the "Bali 9" have turned into a diplomatic
nightmare for Indonesia, whose new president has been working to stimulate
Indonesia's lagging economy by encouraging foreign investment. Australia
withdrew its ambassador - the 1st time it had ever done so over citizens
executed abroad - and promised to re-evaluate its relationship with the
country. Brazil expressed anger but it didn't have an ambassador to pull, as
its ambassador had already been recalled after the 1st Brazilian trafficker was
executed in January; the government said it would delay the return of its
ambassador to Jakarta. Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the United Nations,
pleaded with Indonesia to commute all further capital sentences. (There are
still 33 foreigners on death row for narcotics offenses.)
"Jokowi did not expect the other nations to protest this hard," said
YohanesSulaiman, lecturer in international relations at the Indonesian Defense
University. "He was caught completely off guard."
And yet, on Thursday morning Indonesia announced its next wave of executions.
Indonesia's attorney general, HR Prasetyo, dismissed the international
pressure, promising that the diplomatic fallback would be merely a "ripple."
"It's the diplomatic domain, there will be a solution," he said. Indeed, the
domestic pressure may be greater. A poll from Kompas newspaper showed that 86 %
of Indonesians support executing the Australians. It will be difficult for
Jokowi to back down now. "From what I have heard," Yohanes said, "the debate
now in the Palace is, 'If we stop the executions now, then we bow down to
foreign pressure.' So I think the government will keep pushing forward with
[the executions], that's my gut feeling. But I am not sure they have a plan to
deal with the international fallout."
The run of negative stories looks to continue, as the French Foreign Affairs
Ministry declared it was "mobilized" over the case of Serge Atlaoui, its
citizen on death row, and international media has begun focusing on the British
grandmother who worried that she would be executed next. The one slightly
optimistic story of the week - the last-minute halt to the execution of Mary
Jane Veloso, an impoverished Filipino maid who was among the Bali 9 - also
turned sour. Jokowi insisted that Mary Jane's execution was only being delayed
to allow her to testify in a new court case. It would not be cancelled, despite
the Filipino president's personal appeals.
Andreas Harsono of Human Rights Watch says Jokowi is under intense domestic
political pressure to continue with his current course, and that the BNN (the
national narcotics agency) and the attorney general "are for moving forward."
Indonesian politicians, meanwhile, have used the opportunity to posture against
what they portray as countries eager to encroach on their sovereignty. Tjahji
Kumolo, the minister of Home Affairs, said in March: "If there were a thousand
Tony Abbotts it wouldn't be an issue. Whoever it is - a thousand secretary
generals of the U.N., a thousand prime ministers - Indonesia is a sovereign
nation." Jokowi repeatedly warned nations not to interfere with Indonesia's
sovereignty. After the executions, Jokowi repeated, "It's the sovereignty of
our law." His vice president was even more scathing of foreign governments'
objections, saying of Australia, "We import more from Australia so if there is
any freeze in trade relations, it would be their loss." Tobias Basuki, a
researcher at CSIS, a prominent Jakarta think tank, wrote in an email that
there has been a "harsh and hyper-nationalistic narrative along with the
executions ... Indonesia and Jokowi in particular has lost much respect and
moral standing."
The international pressure may have had an effect, however slight. The next
group to be executed consists of 5 Indonesian men convicted of murder, rather
than foreigners convicted of drug trafficking. Some speculate that the decision
is meant to show the Indonesian government's commitment to following through
with executions but without further alienating any foreign powers. According to
Harsono, "The heat from the international outcry and the fact that it is
against international law to execute drug traffickers," may have prompted the
Indonesian government to "go domestic and to pursue murderers."
On Thursday, I spoke with Todung Mulya Lubis, a lawyer and longtime campaigner
against Indonesia's use of the death penalty, who represented the 2 executed
Australians. He said that it was "possible" that the execution of Indonesian
murderers, rather than foreign traffickers, was a sign that the government was
reconsidering, but added, "I cannot say that. It remains to be seen. It may
just be that the other cases [of foreigners] are still [requiring] legal
action."
Australian media focused relentlessly on its government's efforts to save Chan
and Sukamaran. When it was clear they would be executed, the Australian press
meticulously documented their final days, from Chan's last-minute marriage, to
Sukaraman's final self-portrait, where he depicted himself with a hole in his
chest, to the moment the 2 were led out of their prison, given the choice to
stand or kneel, and shot through the heart.
After the executions, Lubis tweeted:
I failed. I lost.
I asked him how he was feeling.
"How do I feel? Gloomy, is the feeling that I have. I have never been so
stressed, so depressed, with what's going on. Because I expected humanity would
prevail. I expected a sense of justice. But that is not the case."
(source: New Republic)
PHILIPPINES:
Death penalty revival opposed
Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero is keeping a firm stand against the
reimposition of death penalty in the Philippines, expressing hope that the
government will help in the global action to abolish death penalty as
punishment for any crime.
Escudero said that it is the certainty of punishment that will deter criminals
from plying their trade rather than the re-imposition of the death penalty.
At the same time, he urged the government to exhaust all legal means for the
pardon or commutation of the death sentence on Mary Jane Veloso, who got a
reprieve from the Indonesian government shortly before her scheduled execution
along with 8 other people for drug-related crimes.
Escudero said there should be no let-up in the Philippines' efforts to save
Veloso. "The same is true with other distressed Filipinos in the different
parts of the world," he said.
There are about 13,000 to 14,000 distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)
languishing in prisons in various parts of the world, he said.
With this number, he pointed out that the "current P100 million budget
allocated to DFA for legal assistance to OFWs is evidently not enough to reach
to as many OFWs in need of assistance."
He said he believed that whether it's right or wrong and regardless of the
victim, as long as 1 is a Filipino, he should be entitled to due process and
should be protected by the foreign affairs department.
He likewise cautioned Filipinos who are bound for overseas work to be extra
careful and be wary of people who may dupe them into transporting contrabands.
(source: Manila Standard Today)
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