Indonesia’s president has rejected a final appeal for clemency from an Australian sentenced to death on drug smuggling charges, an official said Thursday.
By ALI KOTARUMALOS | Associated Press – Thu, Jan 22, 2015
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s president has rejected a final appeal for clemency from an Australian sentenced to death on drug smuggling charges, an official said Thursday.
The attorney general’s spokesman, Tony Tribagus Spontana, said his office had just received a copy of a decree signed by President Joko Widodo on Jan. 17 rejecting Andrew Chan’s appeal.
The rejection opens the way for the execution of Chan and his alleged co-ringleader Myuran Sukumaran, whose clemency request was already denied on Dec. 30.
“The Attorney General’s Office has not yet decided on the place or date of their executions,” Spontana said.
Last week, Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo said Chan and Sukumaran would be executed if Chan’s clemency plea was denied.
Chan, 31, and Sukumaran, 33, are being held in Kerobokan Penitentiary in Denpasar, the capital of the tourist island of Bali.
They are among nine Australians who were arrested in 2005 on charges of attempting to smuggle 8.3 kilograms (18.3 pounds) of heroin to Australia from Bali. The group has been dubbed the “Bali Nine” by Australian media.
Indonesia has extremely strict drug laws. On Jan. 18, it executed six drug convicts by firing squad, including foreigners from Brazil, Malawi, Nigeria, the Netherlands and Vietnam, brushing aside last-minute appeals by foreign leaders.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Tuesday he still is hoping that Indonesia will not execute Chan and Sukumaran, saying mercy must play a part in the Indonesian justice system.
He declined to say if Australia might withdraw its ambassador from Indonesia in protest if the Australians are executed, as the Dutch and Brazilian governments have done in response to the recent executions.
Prasetyo said there is no excuse for drug dealing and that he hopes the executions will have a deterrent effect.
Figures from the National Anti-Narcotic Agency show that 40 to 50 people die each day from illegal drug use in Indonesia.
Minister of Law and Human Rights Yasona Laoly told Parliament on Wednesday that 133 people are on death row, including 57 drug convicts and two terrorists.
