With Indonesian jails overflowing with prisoners and more than 100 on death row, the House of Representatives Special Committee is calling for mercy or execution.
A spokesman for the Attorney general’s Department told media that President Joko Widodo was not planning to abolish capital punishment any time soon nor will he grant clemency to people trafficking drugs into the country.
‘The President says he will be firm,’ said the spokesman. ‘We want to send a warning to international drug syndicates that Indonesia doesn’t want to be a stopping place, market place or even a place for producers of narcotics.’
The House of Representatives in Jakarta said it wants the jails emptied of condemned prisoners.
‘Show them mercy, or execute them quickly,’ said a spokesman for a special committee of the House of Representatives. ‘Our jails are bursting and condemned prisoners are not making it any easier.’
A number of foreign prisoners in Bali’s jails, including British grandmother, Lindsay Sandiford and Bali Nine members, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran have exhausted their final appeals. Their only hope lies with clemency that can only be granted by the President.
Basuni Masyarif, deputy attorney general for general crimes, stated that five criminals currently on death row will be shot within the next four weeks. While the office failed to identify them, it is known that all five are in prisons outside of Bali and two are Nigerians.
Indonesia resumed executions in 2013 after a four-year moratorium. At the time there were 113 prisoners on death row, since that time 16 people, including Ms Sandiford, have been sentenced to death.
House of reps calls for mercy or executionÂ* | Latest News From Bali | The Beat Daily
