Indonesia Begins Preparation For Execution Of Nigerians

The Indonesian government said on Thursday that it
had ordered officials to make preparations to
execute a group of drug convicts, most of them
foreigners, despite mounting international criticism.
The attorney general's office also revealed that a
Filipina among the group would be moved on Friday
to a prison island where the executions will take
place, joining other death row convicts already there.
Ten convicts — from Australia, France, Brazil, the
Philippines, Nigeria, Ghana and Indonesia — will face
the firing squad at the same time after recently losing
appeals for presidential clemency,typically the final
chance to avoid execution. Tony Spontana, the
spokesman for the attorney general's office, told
Agence France Presse (AFP) that a senior official in
the office had "ordered officials in charge of
executions to make preparations for an execution.
This order has been issued so that the officials make
preparations concerning their role," he said, without
giving further details. No date has been set for the
executions. Convicts must be given 72 hours notice
before being put to death, and Spontana said that
those awaiting execution had not yet been given this
notice. Authorities were now waiting for the Supreme
Court to decide on an appeal lodged by the
Indonesian convict among the group, Spontana said.
His is the final Supreme Court appeal pending, and a
decision is expected soon. The court on Tuesday
rejected appeals by Frenchman Serge At laoui and
Martin Anderson from Ghana. Death row convicts
can pursue appeals in other courts — and several in
the group facing execution are doing so — but they
are seen as having little chance of success, and
authorities say such efforts simply attempts by
condemned prisoners to buy time. Foreign countries
have been heaping pressure on Indonesia to change
course over the executions. Australia has mounted a
sustained diplomatic campaign to save two
Australians among the group, ringleaders of the so-
called "Bali Nine" drug-trafficking gang. Despite the
criticism, President Joko Widodo has insisted that the
executions will go ahead, saying that Indonesia is
facing an emergency due to rising drugs use.

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