'Death sentence won't stop drug dealers'
'Death sentence won't stop drug dealers'
Abdul Khalik, Jakarta
Human rights campaigners have reiterated their call for end to
the death penalty, which they say has proven ineffective in
deterring drug dealers and is against the basic human right to
live.
"There is no empirical data that supports an argument a
country which has the death penalty can drop its offending rate
lower than countries that don't apply capital punishment,"
Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) director
Hendardi said on Saturday.
Hendardi said only God, not the state, had the right to take
peoples' lives.
"The right to life is the fundamental right of every human
being. (The government) should forthwith scrap any rules
legitimizing the death sentence," he said.
Noted human rights lawyer Todung Mulya Lubis said life
imprisonment should be the maximum sentence for criminals.
"I fully support efforts to punish all drug dealers and other
big-time criminals as severely as possible. But I disagree with
the death sentence because it is against our basic right to
live," he said.
On Thursday, President Megawati Soekarnoputri rejected
requests for clemency by seven more drug traffickers on death
row, most of them foreigners. The decision was taken more than
four years after they submitted their pleas.
Earlier this year, Megawati refused to pardon Indian national
Ayodhya Prasadh Chaubey, who was convicted of drug trafficking.
He was arrested in Medan, North Sumatra, in 1994.
Three other drug traffickers are also facing execution after
their pleas for clemency were turned down last year. They are all
Indonesians -- Deni Setia Maharwan, Meirika Franola and Rani
Andriani.
Hendardi criticized Megawati for delaying her decision to
reject the offenders' requests, saying it meant the convicts had
received a double punishment -- imprisonment and a death
sentence.
"All of the president's decisions to turn down clemency pleas
come after (the convicts) waited for years in prison. When their
pleas were rejected, most had already been in jail for 10 years,"
he said.
While she accepted the imposition of death penalty, a
prominent University of Indonesia criminologist, Harkristuti
Harkrisnowo, also criticized the slow process.
"We should set a deadline to limit the process. If the process
exceeds the deadline then the president or the court should
commute the death sentence to life to avoid double punishments,"
she said.
There are many convicts on death row but only one offender has
been executed during the past 10 years -- a Malaysian, Chan Ting
Tong alias Steven Chong, who was shot by a 12-man firing squad in
1994.
National Narcotics Agency (BNN) director Comr. Gen. Togar
Sianipar has demanded all death row drug traffickers be executed
as soon as possible to deter others committing such crimes.
Under Law No. 22/1997 on narcotics and Law No. 5/1997 on
psychotropic substances, a drug offense carries a maximum death
sentence.
Although a district court may have sentenced a defendant to
death, he or she can appeal to a higher court and later to the
Supreme Court.
After the Supreme Court hands down its verdict, convicts can
ask it to review the case before they request a presidential
pardon.
Based on Law No. 3/1950, clemency request can be filed twice
by the same offender.
Seven convicts whose pleas for clemency were recently rejected by
President Megawati Soekarnoputri:
No. Name Age Country District court
1. Samuel Iwuchekwu Okoye 34 Nigeria Tangerang, Banten
2. Hansen Anthony Nwaolisa 37 Nigeria Tangerang, Banten
3. Indra Bahadur Tamang 24 Nepal Tangerang, Banten
4. Muhammad Abdul Hafez 36 Pakistan Tangerang, Banten
5. Namaona Denis 39 Malawi Tangerang, Banten
6. Saelow Prasert - Thailand Medan, North Sumatra
7. Namsong Sirilak - Thailand Medan, North Sumatra