Indonesia defiant as UN condemns looming executions

JAKARTA // Indonesia has notified nine foreigners and a local man convicted of drug trafficking that their executions will be carried out within days, ignoring appeals by the UN chief and foreign leaders to spare them.

Authorities also asked the four Nigerian men, two Australian men, a Filipino woman, and one man each from Brazil, France and Indonesia for their last wish, the spokesman for the attorney general, Tony Spontana, said on Sunday.

He said the legal options of nine of them have been exhausted, while Frenchman Serge Atlaoui still has an outstanding legal complaint over the procedure followed in his request for clemency.

Mr Spontana said he expects the Supreme Court to rule on it on Monday.

The 72-hour notice indicates the executions by firing squad in Besi prison on Nusakambangan Island will be carried out at the earliest on Tuesday or Wednesday.

The pending executions have caused an international outcry, particularly in Australia, France and the Philippines, which are opposed to the death penalty.

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon urged president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to “urgently consider declaring a moratorium on capital punishment in Indonesia, with a view toward abolition”.

French president Francois Hollande has warned of diplomatic consequences if Atlaoui is executed, and said on Saturday that there could be possible economic fallout as well.

Australian prime minister Tony Abbott, whose government has been pressuring Indonesia to spare the two Australians, arrived on a visit to Paris on Saturday night and was expected to discuss the situation with Mr Hollande.

Australian heroin traffickers Andrew Chan, 31, and Myuran Sukumaran, 33, were the ringleaders of a gang of nine Australians arrested in April 2005 while trying to smuggle more than 8 kilogrammes of heroin from the resort island of Bali to Sydney.

Philippine president Benigno Aquino III said he would again appeal the case of Filipino convict Mary Jane Veloso to Mr Jokowi when they meet at an annual summit of South-east Asian leaders in Malaysia on Monday.

Indonesia has extremely strict drug laws and often executes smugglers. More than 130 people are on death row, mostly for drug crimes. About a third of them are foreigners.

In January, six convicted drug smugglers, including five from Brazil, the Netherlands, Vietnam, Nigeria and Malawi, were executed at the same prison, prompting the Netherlands and Brazil to recall their ambassadors in protest.

* Associated Press