Four foreigners on death row for drug crimes

JAKARTA (JP): An Indian, two Thais and a Malaysian are scheduled to be executed after being convicted of drug offenses, an official at the Directorate General of Correctional Institutions said on Tuesday.

Directorate spokesman F. Haru Tamtomo said the first three convicts, including a Thai woman, are currently detained at a penitentiary in Medan, North Sumatra, while the Malaysian is jailed in Cirebon, West Java.

Their offenses reportedly were smuggling and trafficking of drugs.

Haru and staff at the penitentiaries identified the people as Ayodya Prasad Chauboy of India, Saelon Prasad and Namsong Sirilok from Thailand, and Thom Tuck Yen, alias Acai, from Malaysia.

They along with 12 Indonesian convicts are scheduled for execution soon.

Another Thai, Kam Jai Khong Thavoru, originally included on the death-row list, was granted clemency by President B.J. Habibie and moved from Balikpapan Prison in East Kalimantan to Cipinang Prison here.

Haru said the four made formal requests for clemency to the President.

He said a decision on their requests may be pending.

"The execution would be carried out as soon as possible if the President rejects their requests," Haru said.

Executions, he added, could be done two days after the a rejection of a clemency request.

From Medan, a staff member of the local penitentiary in which the three foreigners are detained said the clemency requests were dismissed.

"The President has rejected the proposal. The decision to execute the convicts should have been taken (immediately) by the Medan District Attorney's Office. But it has yet to order the executions," Rudy told The Jakarta Post by phone on Tuesday.

No official from the Medan District Attorney's Office was available for comment on Tuesday.

Officials at the Cirebon penitentiary also were unavailable to comment on Tuck Yen's status.

Kam Jai Khong's death sentence was commuted to a life term to be served at Cipinang Prison.

"He's now serving a life sentence at the penitentiary," Haru confirmed.

On Monday, a non-governmental organization put the number of death-row inmates convicted for drug offenses at 10.

Deputy secretary-general of Warga Tama Social Effort Building Cooperation Board (Bersama), HMD Tandjung, confirmed that three of the convicts were imprisoned in Medan, one in Balikpapan, and four others in Jakarta.

He did not say where the other two were imprisoned.

Tandjung said Soeharto rejected the convicts' requests for clemency during his presidency which ended in May 1998.

Tandjung said there were bureaucratic irregularities which led to delays in the executions.

"Probably Minister of Justice Muladi has forgotten (the scheduled executions). That's why the executions have yet to be carried out," he was quoted by Antara as saying here on Monday.

Tandjung refused to reveal the names of the eight convicts, but he said an India and Thai were among the eight convicts. (asa)