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State sanctioned killing by Indonesia resumes

27 June 2008, 04:38PM

Amnesty International is appalled at reports that the Indonesian authorities have executed Nigerians, Samuel Iwachekwu Okeye and Hansen Anthoni Nwaoysa whose appeals for clemency were rejected by the President in 2004.

As the world moves towards the world wide abolition of the death penalty, these two executions are a regrettable and avoidable act by the Indonesian authorities. The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and is the pre-meditated and cold-blooded killing of a human being by the state in the name of justice.

The death penalty should not be inflicted on any person.

Amnesty International believes the death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and violates the fundamental right to life.

It is a sad irony that on the day that the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon reminded member states of their responsibility to fully respect the rights of prisoners who are drug dependant or are in custody for drug-related crime, especially their rights to life and a fair trial, that the Indonesian authorities sanctioned the first executions since April 2007.

Samuel Iwachekwu Okoye was sentenced to death on 5 July 2001 for smuggling 3.8kg of heroin into Indonesia via Soekarno Hatta airport in 2001. Hansen Anthony Nwaliosa was caught with 3.2g of heroin, and was sentenced to death on 29 January 2001.

Death sentences in Indonesia are carried out by firing squad. The person under sentence of death has the choice of standing or sitting and of using a blindfold or cover for their head. Firing squads consist of 12 people, six of whom are supplied with live ammunition and six whose guns are loaded with blanks.

In 2006, Indonesia ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which states that “every human being has the inherent right to life.” However, the Indonesian authorities did not authorize ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, aimed at the abolition of the death penalty.

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