Chaubey too old to be executed: India

Abdul Khalik, Jakarta

The Indian government has expressed objection to the planned execution of its national Ayodhya Prasadh Chaubey, 65, for drug trafficking, saying the death row convict is too old to face a firing squad.

Attorney General M.A. Rahman said on Monday his office had received a letter from the Indian Embassy in Jakarta to convey the objection.

The letter, citing Indian law, stated that Chaubey was too old to be executed, he said without elaborating.

When contacted by The Jakarta Post later in the day, Indian Ambassador HK Singh declined to confirm or comment on the letter but said he would explain the matter on Tuesday.

However, Rahman said prosecutors and police were preparing to set a date and place to execute Chaubey, while a firing squad was on standby.

"Our law doesn't have an age restriction on execution, so we will go ahead with plans to execute him as soon as possible. But we can't tell you the date or place," he said.

The execution became imminent after prosecutors received a copy of the final verdict on Chaubey's conviction by the Supreme Court.

Rahman promised to fulfill all of the convict's requests before ordering his execution.

The attorney general said the execution would be by police firing squad and closed to the public. Its date will also be kept secret, with the prosecution informing the convict and his family only three days before his execution.

Chaubey was arrested in 1994 in Medan, North Sumatra, when trying to smuggle 12 kilograms of heroin into the country. The local district court sentenced him to death one year later.

Subsequently, he appealed to higher courts but both the Medan High Court and the Supreme Court rejected his appeals. President Megawati Soekarnoputri also turned down his plea for clemency.

There are many death-row drug convicts but only one drug offender has been executed in the last 10 years when Malaysian Chan Ting Tong, alias Steven Chong, was shot by a 12-man firing squad.

Human rights campaigners have pushed for an end to the death penalty, which they say has proven ineffective in deterring drug dealers and is against the basic human right to live.

Rahman announced that his office and police were also preparing to execute seven other foreigners convicted of drug trafficking in Indonesia after their clemency pleas were rejected by the President last Thursday.

The prosecutors are completing all administrative requirements for their executions, he added.