Eight drug convicts were executed by an
Indonesian firing squad early Wednesday, but
a Filipina who was on death row with them
was unexpectedly spared, local media reports
said.
The Filipina's execution was delayed at the
last minute after one of her recruiters
surrendered to police in the Philippines, the
attorney general's spokesman said.
"The execution of Mary Jane [Veloso] has
been postponed because there was a request
from the Philippine president related to a
perpetrator suspected of human trafficking
who surrendered herself in the Philippines,"
said spokesman Tony Spontana. "Mary Jane
has been asked to testify."
Jakarta moved forward with the other
executions despite intense opposition abroad
from those who said the punishment would be
too harsh.
The convicts had been held at Nusa
Kambangan jail, an island prison off Java.
They included two Australian members of the
so-called “Bali nine” heroin trafficking ring,
Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran;
Indonesian citizen Zainal Abidin; and Brazilian
national Rodrigo Gularte.
Despite sustained appeals from the
international community, rock bands and
global leaders, Indonesian President Joko
Widodo, known as Jokowi, steadfastly refused
to grant clemency for narcotics-related
offenses.
The president described the executions as the
necessary “shock therapy” required to counter
what he called Indonesia’s “drug emergency."
The president has said that 40 to 50 people
die in Indonesia each day because of drugs —
a statistic that has been widely questioned by
academics and human rights activists, such
as Daniel Awigla, from a coalition of
Indonesian groups against the death penalty.
Awigla said the president has leaned too
heavily on projections from the National
Narcotics Agency and ignored alternative
views.
“It is very dangerous, the state using this
questionable data to ensure, to be the
justification to have capital punishment. It has
become very dangerous data, it is very
systematic and why doesn't Jokowi listen to
other voices?" Awigla asked.
In recent weeks other serious allegations have
emerged about flawed legal processes.
Severity of punishment questioned
A lawyer for the Bali nine pair has told of how
the judges initially agreed to accept bribes of
more than $100,000 for a lenient sentence.
In the trial of Indonesian Abidin, one witness
was allegedly tortured, while lawyers for
Veloso insist she was a victim of human
trafficking who went to trial without a qualified
translator.
The family of Brazilian Gularte has for years
been pushing for a reprieve on the basis of his
fragile mental health. Specialists have
consistently diagnosed him as paranoid
schizophrenic.
Others argued that in accordance with
international law, capital punishment should
be limited to the “most serious of crimes.” The
U.N. Human Rights Committee has concluded
that capital punishment for drug offenses fails
to meet this condition, said Andreas Harsono,
from Human Rights Watch.
"There are a lot of studies. The U.N. office for
drugs and crime already says that the death
penalty should not be implemented against
drug traffickers, only for serious crimes which
result in direct death," Harsono said.
After months of intense lobbying and last-
ditch legal appeals, the families of those on
death row said their final goodbyes Tuesday.
Candlelight vigils were held across Australia,
where the public and the government strongly
pushed for Indonesia to halt the executions.
But in Indonesia, where many support the use
of capital punishment, political analyst
Yohanes Sulaiman said the executions would
most likely boost the president’s popularity.
"I mean, if you think about it, there will be
people applauding him domestically. I mean,
people saying, ‘You know, he is standing
against all the international positions [and] he
is not afraid to be pushed around.' So there
will be a short-term euphoria, basically,' "
Sulaiman said.
Indonesia has some of the strictest drug laws
in the world and ended a four-year unofficial
moratorium on capital punishment in 2013.

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