Relatives and diplomats rushed to an Indonesian prison island yesterday, ahead of the looming executions of nine foreign drug convicts who are set to be shot in defiance of international outrage.
Indonesia has advised consular officials to go to Nusakambangan, the high-security prison island where its executions are carried out, and where all of the death row convicts have now been transported to.
The government said an exact date for the executions could not be decided yet, as a judicial review was still pending for the sole Indonesian in the group of 10 people who face death by firing squad.
Photo: Reuters
“We hope that the decision will be made as soon as possible so that we will have a chance to determine the D-Day of the executions,” Tony Spontana, spokesman for Indonesia’s attorney-general, told reporters.
“The theme of the impending executions is a war against drugs,” he said, while indicating that more than the legally required minimum notice period of 72 hours might be given to the foreign embassies.
Chinthu Sukumaran, whose brother, Myuran, is one of two Australians in the group on death row, was making last-minute arrangements to leave for Jakarta.
“I can’t believe this is it. We still haven’t given up hope,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.
Michael Chan, whose brother, Andrew, faces death too as a fellow ringleader of the “Bali Nine” heroin-trafficking gang, was also heading to Indonesia, the newspaper said.
Consular staff assisting a Brazilian convict were told by Indonesian authorities to be in Cilacap, the port town nearest Nusakambangan, today. Lawyers for the two Australians were to meet Australian embassy officials in Cilacap today, as Canberra said it was “gravely concerned” at the signs that the executions are drawing near.
“Our ambassador in Jakarta is currently engaged in making a series of representations,” the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The foreigners — two from Australia, one each from Brazil, France and the Philippines, and four from Africa — have all lost appeals for clemency from Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who says that Indonesia is fighting a drugs emergency.
One of the convicts was previously identified by the Indonesian government as Ghanaian, but Spontana said he was from Nigeria, along with three other Nigerians in the group.
Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina maid whose two sons aged 12 and six have traveled to spend her final hours with her, was transferred yesterday morning under heavy police guard to Nusakambangan, sparking protests in Manila.
Her lawyers filed another court bid to halt the process, as the Australians have been doing. However, Indonesia says all judicial reviews and appeals for clemency have been exhausted, and that such attempts are merely delaying tactics.
“Maybe, the best we can hope for is a commutation of the death sentence,” Philippine foreign affairs spokesman Charles Jose told reporters in Manila.
Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay said he appealed again for clemency for Veloso during a meeting with his Indonesia counterpart, Jusuf Kalla, on Thursday.
“I appeal to you on considerations of compassion, and assure you that the Philippine government is exhausting all avenues to ensure that proper justice is served to those responsible for deceiving Mary Jane into having brought the drugs into Indonesia,” Binay said, quoting from a written appeal he handed to Kalla.
France on Thursday accused Indonesia of “serious dysfunction” in its legal system that led to Frenchman Serge Atlaoui being sentenced to death, and said his execution would be “incomprehensible.”
Velosa’s plight has been keenly felt in the Philippines, where about 100 protesters carrying “Save the life of Mary Jane” signs picketed Jakarta’s embassy in Manila.
“Mary Jane doesn’t have that much time. The [Philippine] government must show determination to save her from death row,” Garry Martinez of the migrants’ support group Migrante said.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was