13 on death row for drug crimes
13 on death row for drug crimes
By Multa Fidrus
JAKARTA (JP): In the past 18 months, the Tangerang District
Court has surprisingly handed down death sentences to 13
defendants in drugs offenses.
Another suspect is facing a life sentence, and will likely
soon receive capital punishment as well.
Most of them were arrested at Soekarno-Hatta airport as they
attempted to smuggle drugs into the country from Pakistan, India
and Thailand.
Three of those on death row are Indonesians: Deni Setiawan
Maharwan, 28, Rani Andriani, 25 and Meirika Franola, 31. The
others are five Nepalese, three Nigerians, one Zimbabwean and one
Angolan. The one facing a life sentence is a Malawian.
The amount of the drugs found on the defendants varied, from
554 grams of heroin to 3.8 kilograms of heroin.
The reaction of the defendants also varied.
"I will kill you all, I am innocent," Samuel Iwu Chekwu Okeye,
30, yelled after the court presented the verdict last July.
The Nigerian was found guilty of smuggling 3.8 kilograms of
heroin from Madras, India, on Jan. 9, 2000.
Prosecutor M. Adam had sought a life sentence for the
defendant.
As a matter of fact, there was only one defendant who had
earlier faced a prosecutor asking for a death sentence. For the
others, prosecutors had sought either a 15-year-jail term, or a
life sentence.
In the most recent cases, prosecutors requested a life
sentence for two Nigerians, Okwudili Ayotanze, 31, and Hansen
Anthony Nwaliosa, 33, a Zimbabwean, Ozias Sibanda, 33, and Thomas
Daniel, a 28-year-old Angolan.
Okwudili smuggled into the country 1,150 grams of heroin from
Pakistan on Jan. 20, while Hansen smuggled 600 grams of heroin,
also from Pakistan, on Jan 30.
Also in January, Indra was arrested for smuggling 2,364 grams
of heroin from Thailand, while Ozias was found smuggling 900
grams of heroin from Pakistan.
On Aug. 13 this year, the court meted out capital sentences to
the four foreigners.
"This is the stupidest thing I have ever done in my life,"
Ozias told The Jakarta Post after he heard the verdict.
"I was simply hoping to earn US$3,000 to feed my wife and my
children, I dared to swallow 54 capsules containing 850 grams of
heroin. Instead of obtaining money, I face death," he said behind
the bars at the court building.
He said he could not sleep most nights, since prosecutors had
repeatedly told him that he would likely be sentenced to death,
even though the prosecutor himself had "only" sought a life
sentence.
"Please, send my apology to my wife and children and to all
Indonesians," he said, with his eyes close to tears.
The Tangerang District Court chief, Haogoaro Harefa, told the
Post that the harsh sentences are being imposed in order to curb
drug cases.
He said that none of the judges had received threats or been
intimidated so far in connection with the verdicts.
Award
"Instead we received numerous telephone calls and letters
stating support and even an award from an NGO," Harefa said.
The House of Representative Commission II on legal affairs
also praised the verdicts.
"We were surprised upon learning that the court had sentenced
to death a dozen drug smugglers. We hope other courts will follow
such brave decisions," Hamdan Zulvan, who led eight other
Commission members, told the Post during a visit to the court
early this month.
Unfortunately, he added, only one percent of drug traffickers
are reached by the law.
Chief of the Tangerang prosecutor's office Poerwosudiro stated
that prosecutors had asked for the death sentence for only one
defendant from 14 major drug cases handled by the office in the
past 18 months.
"But as prosecutors, we are ready to execute the verdicts in
case the convicts do not file further legal submissions. To
execute the verdicts, of course, we have to await the instruction
from the Attorney General's Office," he told the Post.
Meanwhile, human right lawyers Todung Mulya Lubis expressed
skepticism that capital sentences would curb the number of drugs
cases in the country.
Amid concern about drug abuse that had claimed many victims in
the country, Todung said that although it was in order for judges
to mete out the maximum punishment, he disagreed with the death
penalty since it was against human rights principles.
He also regretted that such stern punishment had not reached
real major drug traffickers.
"Those given the death penalty were only the couriers, not the
real drug bosses.
"Is such punishment fair? The problem is that we have never
seen a serious attempt or successful operation carried out
against drug trafficking," he told the Post.
He added that major drugs dealers had mastered much more
sophisticated methods and information technology in trafficking
so that it was impossible to expect law enforcers to be able to
eradicate drug syndicates unless the government instituted total
reform in every law enforcement institution.