Woman convict faces execution
Iman D. Nugroho, The Jakarta Post/Surabaya
Eight years after the Surabaya District Court found her guilty of premeditated murder, Astini is to face the firing squad after Idul Fitri.
She will be the ninth Indonesian convict to be executed since 1978. Thousands of others are believed to have been executed without trial for their involvement in the now banned Indonesian Communist Party.
Astini, 49, was found guilty of murdering and mutilating three women on separate occasions between August 1993 and September 1995. She killed the three because they were unable to repay their debts to her.
But she has been given a stay of execution for more than a week due to Ramadhan.
Head of the East Java Prosecutor's Office Dharmawan said the execution had originally been scheduled for Sunday at the latest, or one month after the Supreme Court sent a copy of its verdict rejecting her motion for a case review to the prosecutors.
"We postponed the execution until after Idul Fitri in respect for Ramadhan," Dharmawan said on Sunday.
Astini had earlier requested presidential clemency, which was turned down by then president Megawati Soekarnoputri in July.
Separately, East Java Police Chief Insp. Gen. Edy Sunarno said he had yet to formally receive an order from the East Java Prosecutor's Office to execute Astini.
"(The execution) is under the authority of the Prosecutor's Office, and we're just assisting the execution. So as soon as they order us to execute her, we'll prepare everything immediately," Edy was quoted as saying by Antara.
He said the arrangements were still being processed by the prosecutor's office.
Purwanti Suyatni, the warden of Malang women's prison, where Astini is confined, was unable to be reached for comment, as was Astini's lawyer Ida Sampit Karo-karo.
Convicts who had been previously executed were Hoesin Umar Bafari (1978), Henky Tupanwael and Kusni Kasdut (1980), Adi Saputra (1993), Karta Tjahyadi and Katjong Laranu (1995), Gerson Pandie and Federik Soru (2001).
There are now 15 convicts on death row, including three masterminds of the Bali bombings in 2002 Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Ali Imron.
Indonesia has executed three convicts for drug trafficking this year.
Namsong Sirilak, a 32-year-old woman, and Saelow Prasert, a 62-year-old man, both Thai nationals, were executed separately on Oct. 1. Another convict, who was sentenced to death for smuggling 12 kilograms of heroin, Indian national Ayodhay Prasad Chaubey, was executed in August. The Medan District Court found the three guilty and sentenced them to death in 1996.
Domestic and international human rights groups have repeatedly called on the Indonesian government to abolish the death penalty.
Following the execution of the three foreign nationals in Medan, the European Union asked the Indonesian government to place a moratorium on the death penalty.
Chairman of the National Commission on Human Rights Abdul Hakim Garuda Nusantara supported the call, saying the amended Constitution guaranteed the right to life.