Govt asked to review death sentences<\/p>\n
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
University of Indonesia's center for women and gender studies
\nhas urged the government to review death sentences handed to six
\nwomen for drug trafficking.<\/p>\n
\"The women are victims. They were deceived by their husbands
\nor boyfriends,\" the center's chairwoman, Sulistyowati Irianto,
\nsaid when presenting a study of the women's cases.<\/p>\n
Sulistyowati said the district courts never considered the six
\nwomen's bad experiences caused by their partner's before reaching
\ntheir verdicts.<\/p>\n
She said the Jakarta High Court earlier commuted the death
\nsentence of one of the defendants, identified only as EYS, to a
\nlife sentence, considering that EYS was deceived by her
\nboyfriend.<\/p>\n
\"But the Supreme Court recently overturned the decision and
\nsentenced her to death,\" Sulistyowati said, adding that the death
\nsentence would not solve the problem of drug trafficking.<\/p>\n
President Megawati Soekarnoputri earlier rejected her appeal
\nand upheld the Supreme Court verdict.<\/p>\n
Four of the six women were Indonesians: EYS, MUT, NRI, and PRN
\nwhile the remaining two were foreigners, identified only as BKA
\nand NMS.<\/p>\n
EYS testified that she was deceived by her boyfriend, an
\nAfrican, identified as W, who claimed to have a shop in the Tanah
\nAbang market in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
W asked EYS to deliver some money to his friend, identified
\nonly as B, in Bangkok in April, 2000.<\/p>\n
Without the woman's knowledge, B changed EYS' bag with a bag
\ncontaining heroin before she returned from Bangkok to Jakarta.
\nShe was then arrested upon arriving in Indonesia from Bangkok.<\/p>\n
The other three Indonesian women were also deceived by their
\nboyfriends and husbands, all of them are foreigners, while the
\ntwo foreign women also had similar experiences.<\/p>\n
Besides the six women, the center's researchers also
\ninterviewed two other women, identified as SKN, a Myanmar
\nnational and KHN, a Thai, who were sentenced to 20 years in jail
\nand 15 years in jail respectively for drug trafficking.<\/p>\n
\"The women were also deceived by their partners to smuggle
\nheroin here,\" the center's researcher Firliana Purwanti said.<\/p>\n
Firliana said the courts only provided English interpreters,
\ninstead of interpreters of their own languages, during their
\ntrials.<\/p>\n
\"Their English was very poor. They could only say yes or no
\nduring the trial,\" she said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-asked-to-review-death-sentences-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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