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Indonesia: Execution of 10 inmates will harm international relations and rights protection
Asian Human Rights Commission - April 26, 2015
Mr. Joko Widodo
President of
the Republic of Indonesia
Jl. Veteran No.
16,
Jakarta Pusat,
INDONESIA
Tel: +62 21 3458
595
Fax: +62 21 3484
4759
E-mail: webmaster@setneg.go.id
Dear President Widodo:
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), a Hong Kong-based regional human rights organization, expresses its alarm against the plan of your government to execute ten death row inmates lodged in Nusakambangan Prison, Central Java Province, Indonesia.
The AHRC is aware that your Office has given the green light to Attorney General H.M. Prasetyo to go ahead and execute the ten human beings, and as a regional human rights body, our organization unequivocally deplores the intended action, as well as the policy and principles behind the same.
The ten inmates set to be executed by firing squad are: Rodrigo Gularte (Brazil), Serge Atlaoui (France), Okwudili Oyatanaze (Nigeria), Raheem Agbaje Salami (Nigeria), Sylvester Obiekwe (Nigeria), Martin Anderson (Ghana), Zainal Abidin (Indonesia), Mary Jane Veloso (The Philippines), Andrew Chan (Australia), and Myuran Sukumaran (Australia).
The Attorney General has earlier carried out the execution of six inmates convicted for illegal drug related offenses, namely: Namaona Denis (Malawi), Marco Archer Cardoso Moreira (Brazil), Daniel Enemuo (Nigeria), Tran Thi Bich Hanh (Vietnam), Ang Kiem Soei (Indonesia), and Rani Andriani (Indonesia).
The AHRC has learned that this second set of executions is being conducted following the ten convicts having failed to secure judicial review in the Supreme Court and you having refused to grant them clemency.
As you might be aware, Mr. President, Indonesia is a state party to the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), with the promulgation of the Law No. 12 of 2005 on the Ratification of ICCPR; the planned executions are in violations of Article 6 of the Covenant. Article 6, paragraph 1, states, "Every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life."
In line with the Covenant, the Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia (UUD 1945) also clearly guarantees the right to life. As stated in Article 28 A of the Constitution, "Every person shall have the right to life and to defend his/her life and existence." Indonesia has also enacted Law No. 39 of 1999 on Human Rights; Article 4 of this law guarantees the right to life.
Furthermore, going ahead with this set of executions means Indonesia has, under your leadership, chosen to directly oppose the recommendation of the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC).
In 2013, the Committee recommended that Indonesia abolish the death penalty from its legal system. You may also be aware that as a result of Indonesia choosing to continue to impose the death penalty, the UNHRC downgraded the human rights standard of Indonesia from A to E. This is a direct consequence of the failure of the Indonesian government to institute changes in line with the UNCHRC's 2013 recommendation to stop executing human beings and to abolish the death penalty from the Indonesia's legal system.
And, it is not just a backlash from the international community that can be expected by your government; this imminent set of executions will have serious ramifications on Indonesian citizens living abroad, some of who are themselves facing the death penalty in foreign lands.
According to Indonesian Migrant Care, as many as 229 Indonesian migrant workers are facing death penalty, and one of these death row convicts, Mrs. Siti Zaenab, has been executed by the Saudi Arabian government as recently as April 15, 2015.
Mr. President, it is indeed an odd game being played. Surely the right hand knows what the left hand is doing? Imposing the death penalty at the domestic level and protesting against the death penalty to secure the life of Indonesian citizens abroad is a double standard. How long do you think it will take before this strategy begins working?
AHRC, as a regional human rights organization, wishes to reiterate its unequivocal stance against the death penalty. There is simply insufficient evidence of the death penalty having any deterrent effect on drug traffickers. Despite the Indonesian government insisting that the death penalty will reduce drug circulation, the number of drug users and traffickers has significantly increased in Indonesia.
Therefore, the AHRC calls on you, Mr. President:
Yours sincerely,
Bijo Francis
Executive Director
Asian Human Rights
Commission, Hong Kong
About AHRC
The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation that monitors human rights in Asia, documents violations and advocates for justice and institutional reform to ensure the protection and promotion of these rights. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.
Source: http://www.humanrights.asia/news/ahrc-news/AHRC-OLT-004-2015.
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