More drug traffickers' clemency pleas rejected

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Multa Fidrus, Jakarta/Tangerang

Seven more convicted drug traffickers on death row are facing imminent execution after President Megawati Soekarnoputri turned down their requests for clemency on Thursday.

Last month, she also refused to grant clemency for four other convicted drug traffickers on death row, including Indian Ayodhya Prasad Chaubey. in 2003, the President also denied clemency for another drug trafficker.

The move was aimed at strengthening the country's resolve to fight drug abuse, Megawati said during Thursday's observance of the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking in Jakarta, which was on June 26.

Megawati admitted she took no pleasure in rejecting the appeals for clemency, but it was her obligation to protect the nation's youth from illicit drugs.

"I have to stress here that it is my obligation to protect our children and youth from the threat of drug abuse and trafficking," she said.

Megawati asked for understanding from foreign countries over the decision, as most of those convicted were foreigners.

"I ask for understanding from the families of the convicts and also from foreign governments because I take no pleasure in taking such a decision," she said.

The President said the government was trying to be consistent in upholding the law against drug traffickers and abusers in the country.

National Narcotics Agency (BNN) chief Insp. Gen. Togar Sianipar said that five of the seven drug traffickers in question were foreigners and the other two were Indonesians.

He did not mention the names of the seven convicts, saying that he was not familiar with the details of their appeals.

Data from the Tangerang District Court, which frequently hands down death sentences for drug traffickers, shows that only five convicts had filed appeals for presidential pardon.

They are Indra Bahadur Tamang from Nepal, Samuel Iwuchekwu from Nigeria, Hansen Anthony from Nigeria, Namaona Denis from Malawi and Muhammad Abdul Hafez from Pakistan.

They were sentenced to death between 2000 to 2002 and the court said it had not received the information that the President had rejected appeals for clemency sought by the five convicts.

Dadi Waluyo and Hussen Tuhuteru, lawyers of the five convicts, could not be reached for comment on the decision.

Drug abuse and trafficking cases in Indonesia have increased almost three fold in the past three years, forcing the government to take drastic measures to deter offenders.

In the past one-and-a-half years, the prosecutor's offices around the country have submitted 764 drug-related cases to the courts.

The Tangerang court is known for its harsh sentences as it has handed down the death penalty for 26 defendants in the past four years.

Such a decision, while applauded by national antidrug activists, has been criticized by human rights campaigners at home and abroad, who argue that capital punishment is inhuman.

Amnesty International urged Megawati last month to commute the death sentences for Ayodhya Prasad Chaubey and three other prisoners on death row.

No executions have been carried out in recent years, but police said last month that firing squads were on standby to execute Chaubey who was caught in 1994 for trying to smuggle 12 kilograms of heroin into the country.