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Indonesia executes 4 men for drug offences
Indonesia has again turned to the death penalty for drug offences, despite the international condemnation.
The authorities executed four of fourteen convicted drug offenders in the early hours of the 28th July. They were killed by the firing squad - a move that caused international uproar last year after 2 Australians and 6 others were shot for drug offences. The remaining 10 will be executed in stages, but the authorities have given no time scale.
The Deputy Attorney, Noor Rachmad said 'it was not a pleasant thing they had to do but it was important to implement the law', adding 'the executions are only aimed at halting drug crimes'.
Of those executed one was Indonesian, with two Nigerians and one Senegalese. Petitions calling for their cases to be reviewed went ignored.
Joko Widodo, the Indonesian president calls the death penalty a necessity in the war on drugs.
Amnesty International is now calling the other cases be halted immediately. Rafendi Djamin, Amnesty's International Director for South-East Asia & The Pacific said in a statement 'The injustice already done cannot be reversed, but there is still hope that it won't be compounded'.
Since the 28th both India and Pakistan have stepped up diplomatic efforts to prevent the execution of their citizens currently detained by the Indonesian authorities.
The cases of inmates in death row is surrounded by allegations of mistreatment and inhumane practices. Amnesty report that of the ten awaiting their sentence, one was beaten and tortured into confessing possession of 300g of heroin. The beatings were so bad that the inmate required stomach surgery after his time in police custody.
Indonesia is one of 33 countries that still use the death penalty for drug offences, though use the brutal firing squad. Last year 14 were executed in the country, many of them foreign. The countries president, Joko Widodo has defended the use of the death penalty and calls it a necessity in the war on drugs.
