Indonesia executes 3 Nigerians, 1 local

Relatives of Pakistani national Zulfiqar Ali, who was convicted to death in 2005 for heroin possession, dance in celebration in Lahore after the Indonesian government halted his execution. (Photo: AFP)

Indonesia today executed four drug convicts by firing squad, but temporarily spared 10 others including an Indian, drawing swift condemnation as Jakarta pushes on with its tough campaign of capital punishment.

Ten expected to have faced the firing squad, including nationals from Pakistan, India and Zimbabwe as well as Indonesians, were not put to death but officials said they would be executed at a later stage.

Authorities did not give a reason for the reprieve, but the prison island where they were expected to be executed in outdoor clearings was hit by a major storm as the other sentences were carried out.

The executions, which saw an Indonesian and three Nigerians face the firing squad, were the first in the country since April 2015 when authorities put to death eight drug convicts, including two Australians.

President Joko Widodo has defended dramatically ramping up the use of capital punishment, saying that Indonesia is fighting a war on drugs and traffickers must be heavily punished.

Noor Rachmad, deputy attorney general for general crimes, said the latest executions were “done not in order to take lives but to stop evil intentions, and the evil act of drug trafficking”.

He added that “the rest (of the executions) will be carried out in stages”, saying that the timings had not yet been decided. Amnesty International condemned the executions, with the group’s Rafendi Djamin labelling them “a deplorable act”.

“Any executions that are still to take place must be halted immediately. The injustice already done cannot be reversed, but there is still hope that it won’t be compounded,” he said.

The UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and the European Union had also voiced opposition to the plan in recent days.

The executions, which happened at 12:45 am (1745 GMT Thursday), came after a day of frenetic activity, with distraught relatives travelling to Nusakambangan island to say farewells to their loved ones and ambulances carrying coffins over to the heavily guarded penal colony.

Meanwhile, Ricky Gunawan — whose client Humphrey Jefferson Ejike Eleweke was among those tied to a post and shot in the jungle clearing — said lawyers awaiting the grim news were kept in the dark as to why the executions didn’t proceed as planned.

“I would say the execution this morning was a complete mess,” Mr Gunawan told AFP from Cilacap, near Nusakambangan, a remote island housing several high-security jails.

“No clear information was provided to us about the time of execution, why only four (were executed) and what happens to the 10 others.” Family members had already been shocked to learn on Thursday morning that their relatives would be put to death a day ahead of schedule.