Death row convicts to be deported, President says

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid disclosed on Friday his plan to deport nine foreigners who had been sentenced to death for drug trafficking in Indonesia as a part of the country's international role in combating the drugs.

Speaking at a public dialogue after saying Friday prayers at a mosque near his private residence in Ciganjur, South Jakarta, the President said that deportation was one of the options the government would choose in handling the traffickers.

"We are pondering whether to expel them to their respective countries for execution, or to execute them here," the President replied, when asked about the fate of the drugs traffickers.

Four Nepalese, an Angolan and a Nigerian, are among the nine who have so far been sentenced to death, but none of the executions has yet been carried out.

In the latest case, the Tangerang District Court sentenced on Thursday a Nigerian national to death for possessing 3.8 kilograms of heroin. The convict was identified as Samuel Iwukchukwu Okoye, 31.

Okoye filed an appeal immediately after being told he had been sentenced to death.

Kompas daily reported that Okoye was the ninth person to be sentenced to death in the court's history. Eight other people, comprising three Indonesians, four Nepalese and one Angolan, were sentenced to death last year.

Okoye was arrested on Jan. 9 shortly after arriving at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport from Madras, India. He had a stopover in Singapore.

Okoye denied that the heroin, hidden in his baggage, was his. The daily reported that Okoye claimed an Indian named Anjit had entrusted him with the package and he was to hand it over to an Australian, identified as Ron, in a hotel in Jakarta. He said he was arrested before he could arrange a meeting with Ron.

Presiding judge Silvester Suma said Okoye was apparently a member of an international drug syndicate.

The Nigerian Embassy here plans to send officials to study the details of a death sentence recently handed down to a Nigerian national for possessing heroin, the ambassador said on Friday.

Ambassador Alhaji Saidu Mohammed said, "We just set the plan to send our officials to check the details of the court ruling to the related agencies here.

"So we don't close any possibilities for appeals or other legal measures after we get the information," Mohammed told The Jakarta Post.

Mohammed also stressed that principally his country did not condone any crimes committed by Nigerian citizens visiting Indonesia and expected all Nigerians to abide by regulations and laws here. (prb/emf)