By Ainur Rohmah
JAKARTA
Indonesia will defer the executions of 10 drug convicts, including nine foreigners, until after an international conference later this month, local media reported on Thursday.
The office of Attorney General Muhammad Prasetyo said the executions by firing squad would not proceed until after the event to mark the 1955 Asian African Conference, being held in Jakarta and Bandung from April 19-24.
Spokesman Tony Spontana, quoted by the Tribunnews website, said the executions would still go ahead in April but that it was “not ethical” to conduct the sentences “when the international event is going on.”
The meeting will see leaders and foreign ministers from 109 Asian and African countries attend to primarily discuss economic ties.
Three of the prisoners - Raheem Agbaje Salami, from Spain, Ghanaian Martin Anderson and Frenchman Serge Areski Atlaoui – are still appealing their death sentences and Spontana said these would have to be concluded, which he predicted would happen by April 20.
The Supreme Court said on Thursday that it had received files related to Atlaoui and Anderson and it would take at least two weeks before a panel of judges was able to decide whether their cases should be reviewed.
Salami’s case has gone before the Administrative Court, which on Monday rejected the cases of Australians Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. Their lawyers have announced plans to appeal to Indonesia’s Constitutional Court over President Joko Widodo’s blanket refusal to grant clemency to drug traffickers.
Prasetyo claimed any decision by the Constitutional Court would not affect their executions as it would only apply to future cases.
“I hear they’re going to challenge to the Constitutional Court… That’s their business, but we’re not affected by that,” he said.
However, the Australians’ legal team argues their executions should be postponed if the court takes on their case.
Prasetyo also said Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte was fit to be executed, despite claims that he is suffering from mental illness.
The attorney general earlier told the Jakarta Post he would determine the exact date of the executions, which will be conducted simultaneously, after the conference.
The ten convicts have faced execution on Nusa Kambangan prison island, off the southern coast of Central Java, since February.
Their cases have attracted international attention with representatives of their countries, including Australia, France, the Philippines and Brazil, calling for the sentences to be commuted.
