Nigerian gets death for drug smuggling
Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang
Judges at the Tangerang District Court on Friday sentenced Nigerian Stephen Rasyaad Akinyemi to death by firing squad for drug smuggling.
The court, which earlier suspended its verdict to allow Akinyemi, 35, to recover from a severe headache and toothache, gave him seven working days to appeal.
He is the 24th person the court has handed down death sentences to for drug smuggling since the passing of the narcotics and psychotropic substance laws in 1998.
Presiding judge Suprapto and panel members Maha Nikmah and Benar Sihombing found the defendant guilty of possessing 400 grams of heroin for supply found with him at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Tangerang, last June.
"The death penalty is the most suitable punishment for the crime," Suprapto told the closing hearing.
By bringing heroin the defendant had ignored the Indonesian government's antidrug campaign. His actions would only exacerbate the nation's drug problem among youth, he said.
"The crime was committed in a syndicate, therefore, the maximum penalty is given to deter others."
Akinyemi, who is married to an Indonesian, had pleaded for the judges' mercy.
"Pak Prapto, I realize that I was wrong. I have a wife and we have two children. I beg you not to impose the maximum sentence against me," he read in his plea early in the session.
The sentence is harsher than the life sentence and Rp 250 million (US$29,411) fine proposed by the team of prosecutors, led by Eben Silalahi.
Akinyemi was arrested at the airport on June 1, last year, when he was about to take a plane to Surabaya. Seeing him walking suspiciously, a security guard stopped him.
Officers found two plastic bags under his socks. Tests confirmed the powder inside was heroin.
The defendant said he was asked by a friend -- "Norman" --to fly to Surabaya and give the drug to a man waiting at the Juanda Airport. He was promised Rp 5 million as payment by Norman, who is still at large.
Not replying to the judges' question of whether he would appeal the verdict, Akinyemi left the courtroom for the Tangerang penitentiary.
He attempted to calm down his distraught wife and held his two sons close.
To date, at least five of the earlier 23 death sentences have been commuted to life in prison by higher courts.
Since the convicts have the right to file an appeal, many of the cases are still under Supreme Court review, and others are seeking presidential clemency, further pending the execution of a death penalty.